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dailymeruem · 4 years

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Royal Guard Nomenclature

You might know the Royal Guards for having some creative names, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably read HxH Wiki trivia on where the names came from. However, I haven’t seen any comprehensive post getting right into it, so lets have some fun research time and look into the origins of the Chimera Ant Royal Guard’s namesakes and how they might have affected Togashi’s characterizations of them!

While i’m trying to keep everything as brief as I can, this will be a longer post so if you want to gain some knowledge and kill some time, read on! I’ve linked sources throughout the post for further research!

Naming Origin Sources

All three of the Guard’s names - Neferpitou, Shaiapouf, and Menthuthuyoupi, respectively- were chosen by the Chimera Ant Queen prior to their birth in the story. They are mashups from two sources - Ancient Egyptian mythology, specifically the pantheon of traditional gods and goddesses, and a French children’s book series entitled Caroline et ses amis (Caroline and her Friends) written by Pierre Probst.

The Guard x Egyptian Gods

In Ancient Egyptian life, people worshiped a large number of deities which represented natural forces and phenomena (sunlight, life, childbirth, etc). The people regularly offered sacrifices and performed rituals to please the gods so that these forces would continue to function according to divine order (ma’at). Each god or goddess had complex relationships, characteristics, and symbolism associated with them. {x}

Neferpitou x Nefertem

The first half of Neferpitou’s name, “Nefer-”, is derived from the Egyptian deity Nefertem. A very ancient god by Egyptian mythos standards, this god is associated with the lotus flower, as he was believed to have emerged in a water lily from the primal waters at the creation of the world. He also represented the first sunlight and the lovely smell of the Egyptian blue lotus. Nefertem is usually depicted as a young, beautiful man, and sports titles such as “He Who Is Beautiful” and “Water Lily of the Sun”. {x} {x}

In HxH, Neferpitou is the first Royal Guard to be born, which ties in nicely to Nefertem’s being a very early god born from the creation of the world as well as being associated with the first sunlight. As for the beauty aspect, Neferpitou’s androgynous appearance could play into this factor, as some gods in the Egyptian creation myths were depicted as androgynous.

Nefertem’’s mother is often credited as being Bast/Bastet, the guardian goddess of cats, or Sekhmet, the warrior goddess of healing (both goddesses are often considered to be two aspects of the same goddess). These goddesses are both depicted with cat or lioness heads, and so Nefertem is often depicted with a lion’s head or as a lion. I needn’t say more about this tie to Neferpitou! Aside from the cat aspect, Sekhmet’s being a goddess that both goes to war and heals is reflected in Pitou’s dual nature- both a ruthless killing machine in their own right and with their Terpsichora ability making instant armies, and a reliable healer using the Doctor Blythe ability, showcasing a compassionate side. {x} {x}

Shaiapouf x Shai

Shaiapouf’s Egyptian name component comes from Shai, which, interestingly, is not so much an entity as it is a concept- the deification of the concept of Fate. The name Shai is usually translated as “that which is ordained”. This god was said to determine the span of each person’s life; he was with each person at their birth and remained with them through their life until their final judgement in the underworld (duat). Shai would offer the true life story of the individual at their judgement, and could either protect or damn them. This deity has so much power in the Egyptian mythos that even pharaohs and other gods were subject to it. {x} {x}

Now, although Shaiapouf as a character doesn’t have an omnipotent power over fate, the concept of fate runs really strong in Pouf’s characterization. Pouf, along with the other Royal Guards, was present at King Meruem’s birth, and intended to stay at his side throughout his whole life, guiding and protecting him. This is a role that Pouf seemed to take to heart, almost to an extreme. As we know, Pouf saw the King’s destiny of becoming the ruler of the world and dominating all other species as being absolute, and began to actively work against the Guard and even the King himself when he began to stray from the fate that Pouf had “preordained” for him. Going so far as to attempt to kill Komugi, who was the most important person to the King, Pouf’s actions, although out of a motivation to protect the King, would have been damning for the King had he succeeded.

Shaiapouf’s nen ability, Spiritual Message, gives us a hint as to his namesake as well. The god Shai hid nothing from Osiris (god of the underworld) at the final judgement of that person’s life, and so does Pouf’s ability allow him to see the absolute truth about a person’s emotional state by reading their flow of aura. This gives Pouf the ability to come to conclusions about that person’s personality, thoughts, and possible course of action, seemingly allowing him to predict their “fate”. {x}

Also, this may be a trivial fact, but Pouf has the habit of ending his sentences with, “That’s all there is to it”. A very final and fateful statement indeed.

Being a concept, Shai is neither male nor female, but is more often depicted as being male. In this form, he is often said to be married to Renenutet (cobra goddess of child rearing who gave newborn babies secret names), or Meskhenet (goddess of childbirth). These three are often depicted together which gives us a definite picture of the cycle of birth and death. {x} {x}

In HxH, after Meruem is mortally wounded by the Miniature Rose Bomb, we get the lovely and terrifying experience of seeing Pouf and Youpi feed themselves to the King in order to revive him. In this scene, both guards are ecstatic as they have ascended to the level of a Chimera Ant Queen and are filled with an unconditional motherly love for their King. The ties here between this occurrence and these trifecta of gods associated with birth and life are pretty strong.

A few final small factoids: The Greek people associated Shai with their god Agathodaemon, a god of fortunetelling that was considered to be a serpent. As well, the word Shai was also an Egyptian word for “Pig”. Thus, Shai was sometimes depicted as a serpent-headed pig, also called the Shai animal. I am reminded of the time Pouf was shown to be able to rearrange his cells to impersonate a certain blind Gungi player.

Menthuthuyoupi x Montu

The final Royal Guard, Menthuthuyoupi, bears the name of Montu, a very powerful and ancient god in the Egyptian pantheon. Montu (also written as Monthu or Menthu, the latter which Youpi uses in his name) originally was a manifestation of the scorching effects of the sun (Ra), but over time this was modified to mean destructiveness in battle, which led to Montu being known as a god of war. He was said to attack the enemies of cosmic order (ma’at).Montu is usually depicted with a falcon head or a bull head. Falcons were a symbol of the sky, and bulls symbolized strength and war. {x} {x}

Montu was often linked with other gods and is depicted as a fusion of those gods. For instance, because of his association with Ra, he often appears as Montu-Ra. Occassionally he is linked to Atum (another creator god) and Set (god of scary natural phenomena and deserts). Over time, Montu was also linked to Horus, a god associated with the pharaoh, and therefore Montu is sometimes seen as being a symbol of a Pharaoh as a ruler and conqueror.

In HxH, Menthuthuyoupi definitely embodies the warlike aspect of his namesake. Being the only guard not made from human genetic material, he is able to act on instinct and devote himself completely to being a soldier for the King, attacking anyone who threatened the King’s divine rule. Being immensely powerful, Youpi was capable of immense damage with his Rage Blast and Rage Incarnate nen abilities. As well, just as Montu gradually evolved over time to represent more complex aspects of life in Ancient Egypt, so too did Youpi evolve over the course of the Chimera Ant Arc, which gave his life new and more complex meaning.

The many forms Montu can take reminds us of Youpi’s unique Metamorphosis ability, which allows him to change any part of his body at will to suit his needs. Youpi’s Rage Incarnate form, in which his body takes the worm of a winged centaur, is a callback to Montu’s two most common depictions; as a Falcon (Youpi’s wings), and as a Bull (Youpi’s hooves). {x}

One of Montu’s wives was thought to be Tjenenet, another goddess of childbirth, which has ties to the event of Meruem’s rebirth discussed in Shaiapouf’s section above.

An interesting tidbit of info is that Montu was sometimes though to be a guardian of family life. He is sometimes mentioned in marriage documents to enforce commitment; infidelity is described as “the abomination of Montu”. While this doesn’t really have anything to do with Menthuthuyoupi aside from maybe reflecting in his loyalty to the King, the next time you feel tempted to cheat on your significant other, imagining a frowning Youpi may dissuade you.

One thing that each Royal Guard has in common with all of their Egyptian namesakes is that all strive to support what they see as the Divine Order using their individual strengths, even if their methods of supporting this order greatly differ.

The Guard x Caroline et ses amis

The Caroline series is a series of French childrens picture books, or albums, written and illustrated by Pierre Probst. There are 44 books in the series, which were written from 1953 to 2007. They follow Caroline, a little blond girl who is independent and active, and her 8 mischievous animal friends, who talk like humans. The series was adapted into an animated TV show titled Caroline et ses amis in 1994, which is most likely the source Togashi got the names for the Royal Guards from (and you can find on youtube!) {x} {x}

Neferpitou x Pitou

Pitou is one of the 8 animal characters in Caroline. Pitou is a panther, and he appeared in a collection called “Les Albums roses” (The Pink Albums) in 1952, which were a precursor to the Caroline books, thus making Pitou the first character of the future Caroline series. Pitou is characterized as being lazy and cunning.

In HxH, our Neferpitou was the first of the Chimera Ant Royal Guard to be born, just as Pitou was the first character that began the Caroline series. Both of them being a cat is also a very obvious connection that both share. While there are other cats in the Caroline series, Pitou being a panther harkens to Neferpitou’s wild nature. Caroline’s Pitou being both lazy and cunning are character traits that show up in HxH’s Pitou as well; we see them exhibit extreme intellect in science, military strategy and manipulation, but at the same time they are the most playful of the Guard and get distracted very easily.

Shaiapouf x Pouf

Pouf is a white kitten that wears a blue bowtie. He is characterized as being elegant, snobbish, and eccentric. He is prone to going on rants about his dreams of greatness, much to the annoyance of everyone else, and he has little quirks such as hating water and the cold.

If it weren’t for the physical description, you might have thought I was describing HxH’s Pouf- he too is elegant, snobbish and eccentric and often goes on long, intellectual rants, which are mostly never followed by the rest of the guard. Shaiapouf is also always wearing a flowy white dress shirt that features a bowtie-like collar which is reminiscent of Pouf’s white fur and bowtie. While Shaiapouf isn’t known to hate water or cold, he does manifest peculiar quirks such as melodramatic monologues and playing his violin when he is upset.

Menthuthuyoupi x Youpi

Youpi (also spelled Yupi), is a cocker spaniel dog. He is naive, turbulent, and a little bit grumpy, but also generous, devoted and affectionate. He can be fearful and prefers staying home to going out on adventure. He really likes being cuddled by Caroline, the main character.

Menthuthuyoupi in HxH displays a lot of similar characteristics to his namesake: naive, turbulent, and devoted are all adjectives you could use to describe him. Because of Menthuthuyoupi’s lack of ego, he is solely devoted to the King and his divine destiny, not bothering to give a thought to other courses of action, which could be a reflection of Caroline’s Youpi prefering to remain in the safety of home. After Meruem’s revival, when Youpi and Pouf share a affectionate spiritual bond with him, Youpi is shown to cherish the new bond he has with his King, just as Caroline’s Youpi is affectionate towards Caroline.

~~~

One thing that all the Royal Guard share with their Caroline namesakes is that both sets of characters unquestioningly follow an independent leader character that they love and support. As well, in the case of Neferpitou and Shaiapouf, their manner of dress is a homage to Caroline- Pouf dresses in a very elegant and frilly ensemble, very French of him, in my opinion- and Pitou’s outfit is reminicent of both an old school French military uniform and a child’s school uniform.

A bonus Caroline homage in HxH: The titular character Caroline is famously depicted with her pigtail hairstyle. A certain blind Gungi player is also famously shown sporting a similar hairstyle.

Bonus Section: Meruem’s Name

Although not containing as much lore as his Royal Guard, the King’s given name can give us a few fun tidbits in keeping with the etymology of the Guard.

As you know, in-universe, the Chimera Ant Queen states her son’s name, Meruem, to mean “the light that illuminates/shines on everything”. His name is very close to the common Arabic name, Maryam (مريم), which has multiple romanized spellings. The most notable use of this name is in Biblical history as a form of the name Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, and Miriam, who was the sister of Moses.

It is thought that the name might have roots originating in the Egyptian language; the words “mry” (beloved) and “mr” (love) are thought to have been derivatives of the name.This root meaning would work in portraying the love that the Ant Queen had for her son, even before birth.

Other scholars have thought that the Hebrew root words “mr” (bitter) or “mry” (rebellious) were the basis of the name in the case of Miriam, as she was born at a point in history when the nation of Israel was subject to bitter slavery by the Egyptians. “Bitter” and "Rebellious” might be words you could use to describe Meruem, at least when he is first introduced to us. {x} {x}

Other fun tidbits: Meruem’s characteristic “neutral” face expression, young and feminine facial structure, and characteristic “cat eyes” is very reminiscent to a lot of ancient Egyptian art. One that stands out in my mind is the famous Head of Nefertem statue, found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, which depicts the Pharaoh in question as a child in the form of the god Nefertem (remember him?). Interestingly, both Meruem and Tutankhamen were kings that ascended the throne (and died) very early in their lives. I’ll let you look at the piece and notice the similarities yourself!

~~~~~~

And that about does it for all the conclusions I’ve drawn. I hope you enjoyed reading through this and that it prompted you to do some reading and research of your own! Togashi chocked HxH full of fun little references to things in our real world, and it’s so much fun to do a deep dive to find all this trivia. If you think of/find any other fun things too add to this post, feel free to reply/reblog with additions. Cheers!

#hxh #hunter x hunter #chimera ants #chimera ant royal guard #hxh meta #i totally didnt spend 6 hours on this labour day monday no siree #ive been thinking about this a lot so i hope you enjoy!!!!!!!#long post #mod words #meta

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maniaemagna · 3 years

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Because of the statements I made in my previous post (📜 Link 📜) I will be operating under these assumptions:

The focus of major scenes involving the Tablet of Ahkmenrah are the rotating tiles and those hieroglyphs are the most well defined so I will be focusing on this area.

I will be work under the assumption there is an deception that is supposed to be obvious to the audience and they may choose to be deceptive with the hieroglyphs.

The tiles are cramped so they may not use whole words since words in hieroglyphs can be short or be super long.

I will be ignoring the markings added to the opposite side of the tablet since some do sorta look like hieroglyphs but they appear to be decorative markings added to the new tablet prop to distinguish the back of the tiles from the front. At best they could be hieratic numbers at worst just decorative scratches.

(New vs old tablet which doesn't have the 4 shaped symbol.)

Bottom Left Tile Back of Tablet

The first tile shows signs of they had trouble finding a word for inanimate. I looked for an appropriate term as well just to confirm.

𓇳 𓏤 Daytime

𓇌 Come or Return

𓎼𓅱𓈖 Fragment of a technical term for a sculpture. (My resources don't say what term is in English.)

Bottom Right Tile Back of Tablet

This tile was a struggle. At first it seemed like gibberish.

𓏤𓏤𓏤𓏤𓂋 Spell (as in magic spell)

𓄿 Bird (general term), vulture, but, now

𓏤𓏤𓏤𓏤 fdw/ jfdw

The last one was tricky because on their own just turns up the number four or fours of stuff that makes no sense and combined with the Egyptian vulture turned up nothing. It wasn't till I considered the word tricks used in movies and TV to hide clues I realized it could be referencing a word that sounds similar. While everything I turned up still was gibberish I hit some familiar gibberish.

𓈙𓆑𓂧𓍢𓍼𓏤 šfdw Book

Spell Bird Book.

The Book of Thoth.

The book of spells written by the bird headed, moon god of knowledge.

A fictional book from the story Setna I or as I like to call it...

The Theft of The Book of Thoth.

(If you Google The Book of Thoth look up Setna or the combination of both. Looking up The book of Thoth alone will turn up lots of stuff about a book written by Aleister Crowley of the same name and an another fictional mahic item called the Emerald Tablets of Thoth that some seem to believe is the book.)

Back of Center Tile

Combination if artistic scene and hieroglyphs.

𓉥 Palace, temple, cabin, hut or tomb. Shortened to resemble a box.

𓂓 Ka spirit.

Likely depicting the scene where Nefer-ka-ptah ventures under the river or sea to confront the deathless snake guarding the box containing The Book of Thoth as being told by the ghost (ka) of his wife Ahura to Setna who is also planning to steal the book from his tomb. Nefer-ka-ptah, Ahura and their son Merab all died soon after stealing the book.

Fun fact: Xiangliu is a famous river monster but the modern version is more like a hydra than the original one of myth that had a snake body with a bunch of human heads clustered together like grapes.

Top Right Corner Back of Tablet

Again a mix of a artistic depiction of Ra being reborn from a lotus and hieroglyphs.

𓁶𓈜 Those on the sea (deceased).

The pool of water hieroglyph is likely depicted artisticly because Ancient Egyptians did that and since most modern people aren't used to hieroglyphs depicted this way wouldn't recognize it as a hieroglyph. The who scene appears to be an attempt to display and hide the phrase.

Additionally

If your still not convinced let's consider some elements of the story itself.

In order to reach the box containing the book Nefer-ka-ptah made a cabin full of statues and brought them to life.

There is a point where a woman who may be an illusion or undead rapidly deteriorates into dust because Setna was wearing an amulet that protected him from harming him and his family.

It was implied just possessing the book granted power.

One of the many abilities reading the spells in the book was language related. It grants the ability to speak to animals. Considering Thoth is the god who invented language in Egyptian mythology and humans are animals by scientific definition it's not a stretch to assume that it includes humans. Remember Ahkmenrah was conveniently able to speak English and Hunnic. Hunnic is a language of a culture that didn't exist in his time period and not sentence of the language still exists. Also Octavius easily taming a squirrel which suggests he might have talked it into helping.

Various different versions of the story I have read suggested the book contained the secrets if the gods. As in the secret magic of the gods. Like higher quality spells for animating inanimate objects and the dead. Which would explain why they need a tile that basically says, "It if it's daytime return to being inanimate." Possibly the secret names of the gods which can grant their powers. For example Ptah (who sometimes has the form of a dwarf) sent mice to chew a part the chariots of an invading army to save a town.

You are probably wondering "Where does The Book of Thoth come in?" or "Where is The Book of Thoth?" as I make all these claims.

I think the Tablet of Ahkmenrah is The Book of Thoth.

I think that is the real secret of the tomb.

While the book is described as a scroll in the Setna stories and in the NATM universe it's possible it was a gold artifact.

Also it was made clear that the words retained their power even another form since Nefer-ka-ptah for some reason didn't read the book but copied it, dipped the copy in the beer and drank it. He gained the powers of the book by drinking wordy beer.

I believe Kahmunrah stole The Book of Thoth and if was gold melted it down to make the Tablet of Ahkmenrah.

(Remember some people actually believe this book exists in the form of Emerald Tablets of Thoth.)

But because the book no longer retains a form where the original spells can be read only some of the power can be accessed. And possibly only if the person open to accepting the magic and the will to tap into the power (knowingly or unknowingly).

I suspect the Tablet may also overtime may grant a certain degree of self-awareness. That is could be why Nefer-ka-ptah didn't use the book to leave his tomb and Custer began to recognize his past mistakes. But cannot negate evil unless the person is willing to change.

This also might explain why there were cut scenes showing Ahkmenrah as being illiterate and Kahmunrah is canon illiterate.

It's likely Kahmunrah is a composite of Nefer-ka-ptah and Setna.

Setna by the way is a fictionalization of a real world person Prince Khaemweset 4th son of Ramesses II and high priest of Ptah. Ptah, that god mentioned on the tablet 4 times.

If you don't believe me or are not satisfied I'm willing to present more evidence or point to free resources so you can prove me wrong.

#natm #night at the museum #natm2 #natm3 #ahkmenrah #tablet of ahkmenrah #Kahmunrah

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lingthusiasm · 3 years

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Transcript Lingthusiasm Episode 52: Writing is a technology

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm Episode 52: Writing is a technology. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the Episode 52 show notes page.

[Music]

Gretchen: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! I’m Gretchen McCulloch.

Lauren: I’m Lauren Gawne. Today, we’re getting enthusiastic about writing as a technology. But first, do you wish there was more Lingthusiasm to listen to? Even though this is Episode 52, we have almost a hundred episodes of Lingthusiasm. Some of them exist as bonus episodes over at our Patreon.

Gretchen: If you want to listen to those and have more Lingthusiasm in your earballs, you can go to patron.com/lingthusiasm. This also helps keep the show ad-free. If you like listening to a show without ads, help us keep doing that.

Lauren: The Patreon also fosters this wonderful linguistics enthusiastic community. In fact, we have a Discord server, which is basically just a wonderful chat space for people to talk about linguistics. There are over 350 people on the Lingthusiasm Discord right now.

Gretchen: If you wish you had other lingthusiasts to talk to to share your interesting linguistics anecdotes and memes and general nerdery, and you want more people like that to talk to, you can join the Patreon to also get access to the Discord. We launched the Discord community just a year ago, and it’s been really fun to see it grow and thrive and take on a life of its own since then. If you are already a patron, and you haven’t linked your Patreon and Discord account together, it’s there waiting for you. Feel free to come join us.

Lauren: We have Patreon supporter levels at a range of tiers. Some of them include additional merch. One of my favourite perks is the very scientific Lingthusiasm IPA quiz where we send you a short quiz and then we give you your own custom IPA character which is enshrined on our Wall of Fame.

Gretchen: It’s a fun quiz. We have fun looking at people’s answers.

Lauren: Our most recent bonus episode is a collection of some of our favourite anecdotes from interviews and from other episodes that didn’t quite make it into the original episode. We’re delighted to share those in that bonus episode.

Gretchen: You get to see a bit behind-the-scenes with that episode. Also, do you want more linguistics on your favourite other podcasts?

Lauren: Always.

Gretchen: Constantly. We’re also very happy to do podcast interviews on other shows about various topics. If there’re other podcasts that you like that you wish would do a linguistics episode and interview one of us, you should tell them that! We’re happy to come on. Tag us both or something on social media or tell your favourite podcasts that they could do a linguistics episode because we’d be happy to do that.

[Music]

Lauren: Gretchen, do you remember learning how to read?

Gretchen: Not really. I mean, I remember encountering the alphabet chart in my first year of school, but I already sort of knew the alphabet at that point. I guess there was some point when I didn’t know how to read, and there was some point when I did, but I don’t really have concrete memories of that. Do you remember learning how to read?

Lauren: I feel like I have more memories of learning how to write, just because that’s such a mechanical thing. I remember sitting there writing out a row of As. I definitely wrote the number “five” backward for way longer than I probably should have, which is a really common thing that happens when kids are learning to write because it is a combination of brain skills and fine motor skills. But reading in English is something I feel like I’ve always just been able to do. I mean, I guess in comparison learning to read Nepali, which is written in a different script – it’s written in the Devanagari script – I have more memories of that because I did that in my 20s. Even now, I still feel the real disconnect between being relatively able to chat and really struggling to read and write. I still have to put my finger under the words as I’m going through, whereas with English it just feels like the words are beaming straight into my brain because I learnt to read that language so early in my life.

Gretchen: Yeah, I read at this automatic level. I can’t see a sign that says, “Stop,” on it and not read it in Latin script. But in undergrad I took both Ancient Greek and Arabic. In Greek, I got to the point – because the script is sort of similar enough and I was familiar enough with the letters previously-ish – that I got to the point where I could very slowly sound out words as I was reading them out loud because we had to do a lot of reading aloud in Greek class. But in Arabic, I was very much at that hooked on phonics level where you’re like, /p/-/t/-/k/-/a/. There are a few words that I have as sight words in Arabic. One of them is the word for “and,” which is “waa”, and one of the words for “the,” which is “al”, and one of them is the word for “book” because “kitaab” just shows up all the time. But most of the words I had to painstakingly sound out each letter and then listen to myself as I was saying them. I’d be like, “Oh, it’s that word,” even if I knew it, which is this process that I must’ve gone through in English, but I don’t remember doing it for the Latin script.

Lauren: I think that is one of the things that makes it really hard for people who grow up in highly literate, highly educated societies to tease writing and reading apart from language. But actually, when you step back, you realise that writing is actually super weird.

Gretchen: It’s so weird! It’s this interesting – it really is a technology. It’s a thing you do on top of language to do stuff with language, but it’s not the language itself. There are thousands and possibly millions of languages that have never been written down in the history of humanity. We have no idea. We’ve never met a society of humans, or heard of a society of humans, without language. But those are spoken and signed languages, which are just kind of there. Writing, by contrast, was invented somewhere between 3 and 4 times in the history of humanity.

Lauren: That we know of.

Gretchen: That we know of.

Lauren: There might’ve been a society that did a very ephemeral form of snow writing that we have lost forever. But we have records of 3 or 4 times.

Gretchen: It’s been invented a handful of times. There are a few other cases where there are scripts that haven’t been deciphered by modern humans. Maybe they’re scripts, maybe they’re not – it’s not quite clear. But it’s definitely a handful of number of times. And then once other cultures come in contact with the technology of writing, they’re like, “Oh, this is cool. Let’s adapt this to our linguistic situation,” and it gets borrowed a heck of a lot. But it only got cemented a few times.

Lauren: It’s worth saying that “3 to 4” is a bit squishy because it’s not entirely clear if cuneiform, which is a very pointy form of writing from Babylonia, somehow inspired the Egyptian system that became what we know as the hieroglyphs or if they just happened around the same time by coincidence are something we may never really fully put together. That’s a very contested situation. That’s why we can’t even pin down the number of times we think it was invented.

Gretchen: Cuneiform is the one that’s made with the sharpened reed that you push into your clay tablets or, if you’re some people on the internet, into your gingerbread because there’s some really excellent examples of cuneiform gingerbread tablets people have made, which I just wanna – yeah, it’s really great. The Egyptian hieroglyphs people have seen. But yeah, it’s unclear whether they were in contact with each other and kind of heard of each other in a very loose sense and were inspired by each other because there was some amount of contact between those two areas, or if that was elsewhere. The other two – one is in Mesoamerica, in modern-day Mexico and that area, where they had a writing system there that, again, developed into lots of different scripts as it got borrowed from different areas, of which the best deciphered is the Mayan script from the 3rd Century BCE. There’s also the Olmec script, which is probably the oldest. The Zapotec script is also really old. There’s a bunch of scripts in the modern-day Mexico area that also developed independently.

Lauren: Then the final system arose in China around the Bronze Age a couple of thousand years BCE. Because this script was mostly found in its most earliest forms on oracle bones, it’s known as the “oracle bone” script.

Gretchen: What is an oracle bone?

Lauren: They are turtle bones that are used in divination.

Gretchen: Oh.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: And, again, the Chinese script, once it developed further, it was also, yeah, influenced a bunch of the other writing systems in the area.

Lauren: I find it super fascinating, with absolutely no historical knowledge or insight to bring to this, that in these three different places that were completely separate and going about their own cultural lives writing arose at a similar time around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.

Gretchen: Yeah! You wonder what was in the water or something. Well, and it’s partially, I think, that there’s a certain level of writing makes it easier to do things like administrative bureaucracy if you’re trying to keep track of whether people paid their taxes or – it’s a very empire-y thing to have is to develop a writing system.

Lauren: Oh yeah. And it’s absolutely worth stating that it’s not like three people in these three different locations all woke up on the same Tuesday 4,000 years ago and were like, “I’m gonna write a long letter to someone.”

Gretchen: Did they have Tuesdays 4,000 years ago?

Lauren: What you see is this emergence of, “I’m just gonna make a couple of notes so I know how much money you owe me.” Some of the earliest cuneiform tablets we have are just, like, beer supply stock takes.

Gretchen: Like, “Three oxes and this many baskets of grain” or whatever.

Lauren: I feel like it’s very human to be like, “We love writing because it’s poetry, and I can send letters to people I love,” and it’s like, no, it’s actually, “I just wanted to know how much you owe me.”

Gretchen: The king just wants to know if these people have paid their taxes.

Lauren: So, what you get is – although I’m like, “Oh, it all happened within similar millennia,” it is actually centuries of development from just keeping tabs on a few items to a fully fleshed out written system.

Gretchen: What types of things people thought were important to write down – things like legal codes and stuff like that – one of the interesting things that I came across when I was looking this up was that there’s a person named Enheduanna, who is the earliest known poet whose name has been recorded. She was the high priestess of the goddess Inanna and the moon god Nanna in the Sumerian city-state of Ur. There we go. But authorship shows up much later than some anonymous civil servant keeping track of who’s registered which grain or some anonymous priest or something keeping track of who’s made various offerings. This idea of like, “Oh, you’re gonna write poetry,” is a step later.

Lauren: Filing your tax is what is actually one of the best links you have to those ancient civilisations.

Gretchen: There’s this Egyptian named Ptahhotep – that’s “Pta,” P-T, even though I know I’m not pronouncing it that way – he was a vizier in Egypt. He’s also one of the first named writers, the first book in history – or people call him the first book in history – because he wrote these Maxims of Ptahhotep. There may have been people who were writing on more perishable materials that didn’t get recorded and stuff like that. It’s this whole process of, “Okay, I’m going to draw these little diagrams of oxen or something or draw these little diagrams of this plant or this animal or whatever to record what types of things get recorded.” But then in order for it to actually become a writing system, there’s also this step of abstraction that has to happen. This is when you start saying, “Okay, well, the word for this very easily visualisable thing” – so I’m thinking of oxen because the word for “ox” in one of the Semitic languages, I think, was something like /alef/. And so, this “ox’s head” gets transformed into, “Okay, what if this is the sound at the beginning of the word for ‘ox’s head,’” which is /alef/, and it gets transformed into our modern letter A, which is “alpha.” “Alpha” in Greek is just the name of the letter. It’s not “an ox’s head” in Greek anymore because the Greeks borrowed it form the Phoenicians. This level of abstraction that has to go from, “Okay, I’m gonna draw an ox’s head” – if you turn a capital A upside down, it kind of looks like an ox’s head.

Lauren: It’s got its little horns, which are the feet of an A.

Gretchen: Yeah, and there’re all these related languages. You know, Arabic’s got alif at the beginning, even though it doesn’t look like an ox’s head anymore. Hebrew’s got an alef, and Greek’s got an alpha, and all of these alphabets that begin with A. It’s this level of abstraction where you can use this thing to stand for this thing that was associated with an ox.

Lauren: There’re a couple of main different ways that you can relate these abstract images that you’re putting down in writing to the language that you are trying to capture. Of course, being a linguistics podcast, I was gonna bring this straight back to the structure of language.

Gretchen: Well, I think it’s interesting to look at the structure of languages in different areas of the world, and how people reflect those in the writing systems that are developed for those languages. When they borrow a writing system for a language with a very different structure, they end up doing certain adaptations to account for not just like, “Okay, languages have different sounds,” but also those sounds are organised and structured in different ways with relationship to each other. The writing systems often reflect some of that history.

Lauren: The Latin alphabet that both of us are most familiar with has a very approximate correspondence between each character of the writing system and a sound in the language. And I say “approximate” because English spelling is a wonderful historical record of how some of those sound changes have changed over time. I’m just gonna keep this upbeat. You can fall down a giant well of English writing system problems, but to get to a point where the majority of letters have a pretty stable correspondence to sounds that we recognise as phones in the language, and that allows us to write out the words of English.

Gretchen: One of the things that’s true about a lot of the Indo-European languages is that they have a particular ratio between consonants and vowels in the words, where they have a fair bit of consonants in relationship to their vowels but not a ton. You can see this in the writing system because the writing system represents consonants and vowels separately. And yet, when the Greeks were borrowing the alphabet from the Phoenicians – Phoenician is a Semitic language like modern-day Arabic and Hebrew – that alphabet only had consonants in it – letters for consonants – because the vowels were not that important. This is still true of modern-day Semitic languages is they’re often written in writing systems that don’t represent the vowels or kind of optionally represent the short vowels, or sometimes they represent the long vowels, but they’re often written in writing systems where the vowels can be omitted. That’s not really a thing you can do very well in Indo-European languages and still have things understood because the vowels carry enough information that you need to represent them somehow.

Lauren: Even when you have a phonemic script, it’s not necessary to always represent all of the sounds to convey the language.

Gretchen: Right. Then conversely, there are other languages where the vowels are even more important and, in fact, every consonant comes with a vowel or virtually every consonant comes with a vowel. In those, you often get what are called “syllabaries,” where they represent one syllable at a time, because why bother with representing each of these things separately when in every context where you have a consonant there’s gonna be a nearby vowel – or in virtually every context there’s gonna be a nearby vowel – and so you can have a symbol that just represents the whole syllable there. That’s also a structure that doesn’t work very well for Indo-European languages because they don’t have that many vowels. There’s this spot of like they have important enough vowels that you need to represent the vowels somehow but not so important are vowels that you have to represent lots of vowels all the time, whereas languages like Japanese or Hindi – well, Hindi’s Indo-European, but it’s got more vowels, I guess.

Lauren: The Devanagari writing system is inherently focused on the syllable, which is a very different approach to reading. Each character of this writing system, if there’s no vowel specified, it just comes with a bonus vowel. It’s like, “Buy this consonant, get this free letter A sound.”

Gretchen: Right. That’s partly a feature of the writing system, but it can only be a feature of the writing system because it’s already a feature of the language. A similar thing goes for a language like Chinese, where a lot of things are based around a syllable.

Lauren: Then you can go a level of abstraction further where your character in the writing system represents a word-level thing and doesn’t have a direct relationship to the sound correspondence, which is what happens with the Chinese script.

Gretchen: I think it’s important to recognise that there is a phonetic component to Chinese characters. They often make use of – especially for words that are more abstract – it’s not just like, “Oh, here’s a bunch of little pictures that we’ve drawn,” because that’s not capable of conveying abstract concepts like grammatical particles and words for things that don’t come with easy pictures. And so, making use of, “Okay, a lot of our words are one or two syllables long, so here’s a word that’s relatively easy to visualise that sounds very similar to a word that is not as easy to visualise.” We can just add a thing to be like, “It sounds like this, but it’s got a meaning more related to this,” and you can be like, “Oh, it must be this more abstract word.” The classic example, which I’m definitely gonna do the tones wrong on, is that the word for “horse” is /ma/, and the word for mother is also /ma/ with a different tone, and you can add the little horse semantic component with the woman semantic component and be like, “Oh, it’s the word that sounds like ‘horse’ but has to do with something with a woman,” and then you end up with “mother.”

Lauren: This works for languages in China because they tend to be not as long as words in English. We like to add all these extra bits of morphology within our grammar, whereas, again, you get – not a direct rule force – but you get this general tendency where the writing system kind of fits with the vibe of the grammar of the language.

Gretchen: One example of that is in Japanese where they were heavily influenced by the Chinese script, but Japanese actually does have suffixes and other little grammatical words and things you need to change about words. They made some of the Chinese characters that had formerly only had semantic things into just like, “Oh, this makes this sound, and this makes this sound,” because they needed to be able to represent that morphological information that’s not super important in Chinese but is very important in Japanese. You end up adapting a script into something else when it gets borrowed in a different context. Another interesting example here is Farsi or Persian which is an Indo-European language that’s conventionally written with the same script as Arabic except it’s also had a couple of additional letters added because Persian has a P and Arabic doesn’t. They had to create a symbol for the sound P, which is why you get “Farsi” instead of “Parsi” because Arabic doesn’t pronounce that P. So, it makes the P into an F. Sometimes you get people adding additional letters like adding a letter for P. Sometimes you get adapting whole sets of a script.

Lauren: Sometimes you lose letters. English had distinct characters for /θ/ and /ð/ until it was technologically easier to just use the characters in the printing press that English had borrowed. It’s makes me a little bit sad. But also, it makes international people – maybe it’s a little bit easier.

Gretchen: We used to have a thorn for the /ð/ sound, but those early printing presses from continental Europe didn’t have thorns on them. I mean, Icelandic still has thorns. One of the things that I think is more interesting in the closer to modern era – not strictly modern era – is cultures and peoples that are familiar with the idea of writing yet take the idea of writing and say, “We’re gonna make our own homegrown script that actually works really well for our particular language.” One of my favourites is the Cherokee syllabary, which was invented by Sequoyah, who was a Cherokee man who didn’t know how to read in English, but he’d encountered the Latin-based writing system in English. He thought it was cool that the English speakers had this, and so he locked himself in shed for several years and came up with a syllabary for Cherokee. Some of the symbols on the Cherokee syllabary look something like Latin letters, but they stand for completely different things because he wasn’t just learning to read from English. Some of them are completely different. This became hugely popular among the Cherokee in the area. There were newspapers in this in the 1800s. There was very high literacy in Cherokee country. It was really popular. It’s even still found on modern-day computer keyboards and stuff like this. You can get Windows and stuff in Cherokee. It’s this interesting example of that’s one where we can say a particular person was inspired by writing systems but also created his own thing that became very popular.

Lauren: The thing that makes Cherokee so compelling to me is not only did he come up with an incredibly elegant, well thought out, suits the language system, but that he actually got uptake as well – that the community decided to use this as the writing system that they would learn to read and write in, and that it had uptake. It’s very easy to come up with ways of improving the technology of writing but, as I think you’re fond of saying, language is very much an open-source project. You can come up with really elegant solutions, but if no one else is gonna take them up, that’s not gonna be very helpful. So, Sequoyah’s work is doubly amazing for that reason.

Gretchen: People actually made printing presses with the Cherokee symbols and were using those. Another interesting case of this disconnect between a person or people coming up with a system and actual uptake of it is Korean, which has what I think linguists generally agree is just the best writing system.

Lauren: Yeah, we’re like, “Writing as a technology is amazing. All writing systems are equally valid. But Korean is particularly great.”

Gretchen: “But Korean’s really cool.” The thing that’s cool about it from a completely biased linguist perspective is that the writing system of Korean, Hangul, the script, is not just based on individual sounds or phonemes, it’s actually at a more precise level based on the shape of the mouth and how you configure the mouth in order to make those particular sounds. There’s a lot of, okay, here are these closely related sounds – let’s say you make them all with the lips – and you just add an additional stroke to make it this other related sound that you make with the lips. Between P and B and M, which are all made with the lips, those symbols have a similar shape. It’s not an accident. It’s very systematic between that and the same thing with T and D and N. Those have a similar shape because they have this relationship. It’s very technically beautiful from an analysis of language perspective.

Lauren: I love this so much that when we were prototyping a potential script for the Aramteskan language for the Shadowscent books, when I was constructing that language, I also started constructing a script that we never used anywhere, but it was helpful to think about how the characters would write and what writing implements they would use. If you look at the script, you’ll notice that the letter P and B are very similar, but B has an additional stroke. T and D are very similar, but D has an additional stroke. Very much feature driven. And then for the vowels – it’s roughly a quadrant in the writing space – the /i/ vowel is in the top left of the quadrant, the /u/ vowel is in the top right of the quadrant, the /a/ vowel is in the bottom left of the quadrant.

Gretchen: So clever!

Lauren: It was actually just for really selfish reasons that I decided to go with a feature-based system, and that is that it was easier for me to remember if I used the features of the language and made sure that the voiced sound was always identical to the voiceless one but just with an additional stroke. It meant that I only had to remember half the characters.

Gretchen: That’s very elegant. The easy to remember bit is also true about the Hangul script because it’s got so much regularity. The famous quote about Hangul is something like “A wise man can learn it in an afternoon and a foolish man can learn it in a day.”

Lauren: So catchy!

Gretchen: There’s probably a better version of that quote. What’s interesting about it from an adoption perspective is that Hangul was invented by Sejong the Great.

Lauren: Appropriately named.

Gretchen: Who has a national holiday now because of the script. But it was created in 1443. It’s not quite clear whether it was him personally doing everything or whether he had an advisory committee of linguists, but it’s really extremely well-adapted to the linguistic situation of Korean in particular. Even though it’s just also really cool for how it represents the inside of the mouth, but it’s really well adapted for Korean. It was invented in 1443, but it wasn’t popularised in use until several centuries later because for a long time Korean was also using, like Japanese, this adapted version of the Chinese script or adapted version of the Japanese script because of the cultural influences. In the early 20th century, they were doing a much bigger literacy push in Korea to be like, “What want everyone to learn how to read.” And they said, “Okay, we’re gonna have an orthographic reform, and we’re gonna use this script which has this very nice historical pedigree but also is much easier to learn than this complicated thing that we had done that wasn’t really designed for Korean.” It’s got this historical antecedence but also it came back in the modern-day. Now, everything in Korean is written in it. It’s because it’s really easy to learn how to read and write in. The historical uptake wasn’t immediate. It wasn’t during King Sejong’s lifetime where they were like, “Oh, yeah, now we’re all gonna use his script,” people were like, “Okay, king, you’ve got this hobby,” but it wasn’t popularised until later.

Lauren: Even when there is really strong abstraction, humans have this unavoidable tendency to think about the relationship between sounds and other senses. In sound-based writing systems – Suzy Styles, who has been on the podcast before and works on perception across the senses, did an experiment alongside Nora Turoman where they looked at whether people can guess, for writing systems they’re not familiar with, which character was the /u/ sound and which character was the /i/ sound. They found that for a whole variety of scripts there is a much higher than chance – because there’s only two choices. If was completely arbitrary, it would be 50/50. But people do tend, across the evolution of sound-based writing systems, to have /u/ that has a more rounded, bigger sound has properties in the writing system that re-occur. People continue to unavoidably link the sounds of the language to the written properties of the script in a very low-level way. I’ll link to that study. It’s really great.

Gretchen: That’s interesting. It’s not gonna be 100%, but there’s this slightly better than chance relationship.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: Visual representation of physical information is also something that shows up in ways of writing signed languages.

Lauren: Yeah. Everything we’ve talked about so far, I think, we’ve talked about for spoken languages, but it is possible to write signed languages as well.

Gretchen: There are several different systems in place. Some of them are language-specific like, “Oh, this is the system for writing ASL in particular,” and some of them are kind of like your linguist, International Phonetic Alphabet trying to provide a language-agnostic way of writing signed languages for research purposes but, in a way, that’s sort of impractical, like the IPA for general use. There’s an interesting set of systems. There isn’t as much agreement among representers of signed languages in writing which amounts of information are crucial information that has to be written down and which are optional bits of information that the reader can fill in from their own knowledge of the language and the signer.

Lauren: I think it’s worth flagging that that’s not just a discussion that arises for signed languages. It’s just that those conversations got thrashed out for spoken languages four millennia ago, and we weren’t around when people were arguing about whether intonation had any role in the – or people probably were arguing because it was an emerging thing.

Gretchen: Well, when people were arguing about like, “Do we write vowels or not,” which was a big thing. Do we write vowels? Do we write intonation? And punctuation followed quite a bit after – you know, punctuation wasn’t as much of a thing for several of the early centuries and millennia of writing. They didn’t do punctuation. There’s some level of ongoingness that’s still there. If you think about the internet efforts to try to write tone of voice very precisely and communicate sarcasm and irony and rhetorical questions very precisely, there’s some level of ongoing debate that’s still happening in the spoken language context but not nearly as much as is still happening in the signed language context.

Lauren: Also, just because of the way that signed language communities tend to be embedded within larger spoken language communities, people who sign as a primary language tend to also be educated in the mainstream spoken language, and so literacy gets developed in, say, a language like English.

Gretchen: I think that’s the case for a lot of smaller spoken languages as well where sometimes there’s this imperative of, “Okay, we want to be able to write things to each other” or something, but if there hasn’t been a history of a lot of published literature in that language that you’re trying to read, then it becomes a question of, “Should we teach this in school,” because there isn’t literature there, even though there would be oral literature. It becomes a chicken and egg problem of which comes first, or which do you start teaching first, when you’re constantly comparing stuff against a few very large spoken languages that have this very long writing tradition. It shows up in languages with a newer writing tradition.

Lauren: Education systems have a massive influence there. My grandmother, actually her strongest written language is German. Even though she and her sister speak to each other in Polish, they would write to each other in German because that’s the language they had been educated to write in. Even with people who don’t speak minority languages, the influence of the education system there is so massive.

Gretchen: Reading and writing, they’re separate skills even though they’re often taught together. Sometimes you can read a language that you can’t write or something like that. But it’s a big question. With signed languages, because video technology is now available, if we’d had good audio recording technology 4,000 years ago, the pressure to develop writing systems for spoken languages might not have been as strong – probably wouldn’t have been as strong – even though there are other useful things that writing can do even in the audio-video era. It’s easier to be like, “Well, you can just make a video of the signer,” and then you’d know exactly what they were trying to say and exactly how they wanted to say it. You wouldn’t have this level of abstraction of are you gonna try to write it down in a way that imperfectly represents what a person is gonna do when they’re producing it. It is still interesting looking at some of the signed language writing systems. Some of them, like Stokoe notation and HamNoSys, which stands for “Hamburg Notation System,” they try to very physically represent the characteristics of the signer – where their hands are, where their face is, and things like that. There’s another one that I can’t find the name of that is based on the ASCII alphabet, so you can type it into search engine boxes, which has some advantages as well but represents things more abstractly. It’s got this link with Korean, which was representing this very physical aspect of what the mouth is doing. Several of the signed language writing systems like Stokoe and HamNoSys also have this very physical representation what the body’s doing when it’s being produced. But I think they’re more popular among researchers than they are among actual D/deaf users who tend to use video a lot.

Lauren: I encounter Stokoe and HamNoSys in the gesture and signed linguistics literature. I haven’t really seen them too much outside of that.

Gretchen: I think that it’s easy to conflate a language with its writing system because we’re so used to thinking of English as sort of inextricably linked to the Latin alphabet. But there isn’t a reason, in theory, why you couldn’t write English in the Greek alphabet or in the Arabic alphabet or in a very adapted version of Chinese characters where you’d have to do a lot of adaptation. The same thing is true when you write languages that don’t originally use the Latin alphabet and you have romanisations of them. Writing systems are just as much political and contextual. Some of them have this very tight structural relationship to the properties of the languages they represent and some of them have looser relationships because they’ve been adapted to it later.

Lauren: It’s this slightly looser relationship to language as it’s spoken or signed that means that linguists don’t always include writing systems in, say, an Introduction to Linguistics course. We don’t often talk about writing systems. But when we were putting together the Crash Course series, we ended up making writing the topic of our final episode for the series.

Gretchen: I think partly because people are really interested in it, so why not do something about writing, and also because I think that you can use writing systems as a window into some of the interesting structural features of different languages and how the writing systems represent that. As somebody who’s really interested in internet linguistics and the rise of informal writing and how we represent tone of voice and things like that in modern-day writing, and that’s still a moving target evolutionarily speaking, I think it’s interesting to give that linguistic lens on writing systems even though they are imperfect representations of the languages that they represent.

Lauren: “Writing Systems” is Video 16 of Crash Course linguistics, which is wrapping up this month. If you’ve been holding out to watch all 16 of those episodes, you’ll be able to do so very soon or perhaps even now thanks to the temporal vagueness of podcasts.

Gretchen: Crash Course is the YouTube series that we’ve been working on basically all of 2020. It’s especially popular with high school or undergraduate teaching. If you know people that age, or who teach people that age, that may be a useful thing to send to people. We hope that people find it useful as a resource for self-teaching or for instructing in various capacities.

[Music]

Lauren: For more Lingthusiasm and links to all the things mentioned in this episode, go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can follow @Lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. You can get IPA scarves, “Not judging your grammar, just analysing it” mugs, and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I tweet and blog as Superlinguo.

Gretchen: I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com, and book about internet language is called Because Internet. Have you listened to all the Lingthusiasm episodes and you wish there were more? You can access to 48 bonus episodes to listen to right now at patreon.com/lingthusiasm or follow the links from our website. Patrons also get access to our Discord chat room to talk with other linguistics fans – like, do you remember learning how to read – and other rewards as well as helping keep the show ad-free. Recent bonus topics include an AMA with a lexicographer and our favourite stories and anecdotes that we just didn’t have time for in some of the earlier episodes. Can’t afford to pledge? That’s okay, too. We also really appreciate it if you could recommend Lingthusiasm to anyone who needs a little more linguistics in their life. And, hey, tell your other favourite podcasts that they could a linguistics episode, and get us on! It’d be fun.

Lauren: Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our Senior Producer is Claire Gawne, our Editorial Producer is Sarah Dopierala, and our music is “Ancient City” by The Triangles.

Gretchen: Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

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#linguistics #lingthusiasm #language #episode 52 #transcripts #writing #writing techonology #cuneiform #chinese oracle bones #scripts #orthography #technology #cherokee syllabary #hangul #olmec script #mayan script #stokoe notation #hamnosys

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alindae-anne · 3 years

Text

What Makes a Book?

I want to take a break from my novel and dive into a history lesson of books themselves. Why? Well first of all, I will be honest, this blog is for an assignment. But also because the way books have evolved over the last 5,000+ years is fascinating!

Of course no one ever really thinks about THE book, just the fact that the story within its pages--the mystery, the romance, whatever they happen to be enjoying--is a great read (or maybe not so great), but have they ever wondered what materials the book is made from? Who invented it? How the book has become one of the most common and most used items of all time?

No. Of course they didn't wonder any of those things. And if they did, they probably didn't take the time to research any of these burning questions, either.

How great, then, that I wrote this post?! Today is your lucky day! (Also, it is a good thing that Keith Houston, author of Shady Characters, decided to write a whole book about it (1).) I'm going to use the pages of a classic tale to explain some cool things you probably never noticed while reading a book before.

Gulliver’s Travels was originally published in London in 1726 by Benjamin Motte. The author, Jonathan Swift, used it to satirize London society and culture, poking holes at the social hierarchies and systems, basically making out everyone living in the 18th century to be fools--but mostly the wealthy and those who were obsessed with scientific progression (2). If you have not read it, I highly encourage adding it to your reading list, or at the very least there is a 2010 movie, featuring Jack Black as Gulliver, that you could watch. (It’s Jack Black, okay?)

This 2 page spread of Gulliver's Travels pictured above is actually found in The Franklin Library edition from Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, published in 1979. This is the first printing of this edition, and its pages, the way it is printed, and the way it is bound and presented, are all features of the modern 20-21st century book, plus some extra bells and whistles. The most interesting qualities come from the publishers themselves who specifically design their books to be very snazzy--meant for collectors’ editions! They include different kinds of leather binding, exclusive illustrations, and may be signed or part of a particular series specific to a certain author or genre (3). This makes the books published here very valuable and sought after.

Gulliver’s Travels is hardcover. Specifically, “fine leather in boards.” This means the spine and front and back boards (or cover) of the book are bound in leather. The leather is fine and and delicate and able to be decorated and engraved upon.4 Above you can see how fancy it looks with the gilt gold engravements. Even its pages are gilt!

This picture shows more clearly the binding, and of course the spine, which is “hubbed,” or ridged, for added texture.

At this point you may have notice that this version is much different than the original published in 1726. That is because over time, the materials involved in making books have changed slightly or the processes have become more efficient or cost worthy, etc. Either way, the anatomy of the book has not wavered. Keith Houston has dissected the book into certain components and we can see them in each book we read:

I have attempted to label it as best as I can, so hopefully you can follow along:

Chapter Number

a) this seems to be a description, more or less of the chapter, or the Chapter Title. b) “A Voyage to Lilliput” seems much more title-like to me, although this is technically called the “Recto Running Head.” The recto running head is a condensed or abbreviated chapter title, repeating on every right-side page to the end of the chapter.

Drop Cap. This would be the first letter of the first word of a chapter, which is usually exaggerated or embellished in some way.

Opener Text

Head Margin - the space between the top of the page and text

Foot Margin - the space between the bottom of the page and text

Folio - page number

It has taken quite a while for books to become so sophisticated. Because it was published in 1726, Gulliver's Travels is technically what you could call "modern" in terms of how long ago books began their journey to what they are today, but even between 1726 and 1979 the quality has improved. This edition published by Franklin Library is a perfect model for the modern book of today.

The 2 page spread we analyzed above is made from paper. But books were not always made with paper, or even in the book form, bound with anything at all, and they were not printed either. They were written by hand on papyrus.

Papyrus was the first material used as "paper" beginning in Egypt. The reeds were stripped, strung side by side and pressed together. Papyrus was durable and sturdy, and the water of the Nile was abundant in aluminum sulfate, which brightened it so that writing and scribbles could be seen better. There is no particular origin of when Papyrus had first been invented but it must have been around the end of the 4th millenium BCE (Houston 4).

Parchment is made from animal skin that has been soaked, scrubbed, dried, and stretched for days and days, creating a more flexible, yet still durable, material for writing. It was also thinner and could be made "cleaner" and brighter by chemical means. Religion heavily influenced its distribution; some parchment use was literally banned because the type of animal skin used to make it wasn't considered "holy" or "good." For example, the lamb or a calf was acceptable, but how dare you use parchment made from goat skin? What is wrong with you?

Besides the fact that parchment is kind of gross if you think about it (although to be fair, you can’t be too choosy in times right before the common era), it was also expensive to keep certain cattle only for paper making, and the reliability of having new cattle at the time you may need more paper was not very high.

Paper was first introduced in China. It is made from bits of cloth and rags soaked in water, and after breaking down into pulp, strained through a wire grate and pressed to dry. Fun fact-- the Rhar West Art Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has held classes showing how to make paper using this exact process.

There is a trend here: the materials used to make paper (and papyrus and parchment before it) become scarce or too expensive, or they are just not “good enough.” People want their paper thin and smooth, but still strong and durable; crisp and bright, but still able to last years and years without crumbling. There have been times that processes used to ensure these preferred qualities of paper included using chemicals that ended up negatively affecting some other quality. For example, the paper would be white as snow, yet the chemical that did this broke down the natural adhesives which kept the paper intact.

Have you heard that paper grows on trees? Well, that is partly true since after rags and cloths were nowhere to be found (unless people were about to start donating the shirts off their backs), wood pulp has now since been used... the higher the demand for paper, the greater demand for those materials used for its creation.

This brings us to printing side of things. The first ways of printing weren’t of how we think of it now. Even before papyrus, people were still writing and making inscriptions on pretty much anything they could get their hands on. The earliest forms of writing were rather indentations or markings on clay tablets. Found across the Middle East, it is a cuneiform script of the Sumerian people from 3300 BCE (Houston 79).

Similarly, the Egyptians were also keen on developing their own writing system which today we recognize as hieroglyphs. A lot of these were found carved on the walls of tombs but also began to be used on papyrus in 2600 BCE (Houston 82-83).

The Egyptians celebrated their scribes and believed those who wrote with brush and ink on papyrus to be channeling power--that it was a gift from the gods--”wielded with respect and humility” (Houston 87). The hieroglyphs not only showed the intention of the writer, visually, but often the picture would be associated with or connected to certain sounds which emerged more formal use of letters as time went on.

The alphabet we use today can be traced back to the Phoenician alphabet (used by the Egyptians) which had evolved into the Greek and then Roman alphabets (Houston 91-92). At this point in time, scribes were using water based ink which was fine for papyrus, but during the transition to parchment they realized that ink smudges quite a bit. This led to the creation of iron gall ink that would darken and adhere to the parchment as it dried due to its chemical makeup in contact with oxygen in the air.

Jump ahead to 1400s and we are with Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press! One thing Keith Houston make sure to mention is that although Gutenberg invented the printing press itself, to help moveable type and mass printing, the idea of printing had not been new. Clay pieces used as stamps and similar objects had been excavated and dated back thousands of years before the clay inscribed cuneiform tablets were made. And a primitive version of a sort of printing press is mentioned being made by a man named Bi Sheng during the reign of Qingli from 1041-1048 AD (Houston 110). Obviously nothing great came from it, most likely because he was of unofficial position. Even so, movable type was still possible, although painstakingly slow with wooden blocks used as stamps. This was common for the next few hundred years in China.

Even though Gutenberg's press completely revolutionized the transmission of knowledge, it was still quite slow in comparison to the versions which came after, only being able to print 600 characters a day (Houston 118). From Gutenberg's printing press came other types of presses that improved the speed or efficiency of movable type immensely. These all came after the original publication of Guliver's Travels, starting in the early 1800s with the Columbian press, eventually the Linotype, and then lack of precision called for the Monotype, which could produce 140 wpm (Houston 149).

The 2 page spread above then, could possibly have been printed by the Linotype, but most likely, however, the Monotype, which is the more accurate of the two. Another possibility could be "sophisticated photographic and 'lithographic' techniques" or "'phototypsetting'" (Houston 151). Houston mentions that the printing press age has died and now faces a digital future.

I'm at my 10 image limit which means I better wrap this up with some interesting facts about bookbinding. On BIBLIO.com I was trying to see exactly what "fine leather in boards" meant which is apparently how Gulliver's Travels is bound. I didn't find any phrase that matched, but from my understanding, the leather is very supple and pliable, which is why it was able to be gilt with gold, and it was able to form nicely to the hubbing on the spine.

The website also explains that the first "book binding" was technically just putting the pieces of paper or parchment together and pressing them between two boards. Literally. Like just setting them on a board and putting another board on top of that. Eventually leather was introduced, first as a cord wrapped around the book to keep the boards in place. As time progressed, the practice was improved and perfected so it was less crude. This involved the creation of the "spine" where the pages meet together and can therefore open and close in a v shape without flying away.

This website helped explain some of the other embellishments and extra flair that can be added to a book's binding. It mostly goes over leather binding which is from most animal skin but there is a unique leather bound book that can be bound with seal skin. Some of the books on the website are so expensive because of the materials they are bound with and the effects that have been created in the cover, for example, Benjamin Franklin's observations on electricity, which has had acid added to the page, discoloring it for a lightning strike effect, and includes a key to represent his famous experiment.

Gulliver's Travels, although not quite so fancy, is still a very beautifully bound book with decorated endpapers, meaning the inside cover is laden with designed paper rather than boring white or some other neutral color.

I hope you found this journey of the book as interesting and as exciting as I did while writing this post! You must really love books because even my attention span isn't this long. I will admit I took at least 3 different breaks.

I'm back to my novel for now, thanks for listening😎

Bibliography

Houston, Keith--Author of Shady Characters, which I used extensively in my TikTok “history of punctuation” project--also wrote -> The BOOK - a cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time, 2016.

British Library Website -> works -> “Gulliver’s Travels overview”

Masters, Kristin. “Franklin Library Editions: Ideal for Book Collectors?” Books Tell You Why, 2017 (blog).

BIBLIO.com -> “Leather Binding Terminology and Techniques”

#bookbinding #papermaking #printing #book history #keith houston

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lutrain2020 · 4 years

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Meet the Creator!

Introducing: Seeking7 or Seeking!

Commission: I don't offer writing commissions at the moment, mostly because I'm not sure how to conduct or present myself in the market. If anyone would like to request a certain fic or short story from me, however, I'd be glad to work out details with them. :)

Social Media: A03: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seeking7 FFnet: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/13334645/

Tell us a little bit about you!

Hiya! I'm Seeking7, or Seeking. I was born in Alabama and raised in California to a pair of the most hardworking Egyptian immigrants you've ever met, and the mixture of Arabic and American influence over the course of my life has had a profound influence on the way I look at the world. My favorite subjects are biology and english, and I aspire to become either an EMT or military medic after I graduate. In regards to hobbies (aside from playing copious amounts of Zelda), I love studying American and Ancient Israelite history, and I hope to one day learn ancient Hebrew and Greek so I can read the original biblical manuscripts for myself!

Is there someone who inspires you and your writing?

While my own brain can usually come up with a certain scene or idea that would inspire me to put paper to pen, it's the people I have around me that encourage me to keep writing. The people on FFN and AO3 who comment and leave kudos on my work mean the world to me (shout out to JoSeBach on FFN and MyWritingisMeh on Ao3 for leaving comments/reviews on each chapter of my fic "Mephibosheth"). The LU fans who come to my livewrites on the discord are so ridiculously encouraging and always let me know that my writing can actually be interesting to some people -- a fact that never ceases to astound me. But most credit goes to my younger sister. Even when I don't show her a work because it might be a little bit extreme or intense for her age, she always lets me know that she's sure it's good regardless. Her unconditional, unreasonable support inspires me to be that kind of person to other fic writers!

What got you into writing?

Three books in particular encouraged me to take writing seriously. "Crime and Punishment" was the first in this process, showcasing just how intense, beautiful, and profound a book with actually very little plot can be. The entire book takes place more or less in the head of a man wracked to pieces by guilt, and Dostoevsky's decision to focus on internal instead of external conflict changed the way I looked at literature. "East of Eden" was next. It wasn't just the book's allegorical nature or the Cain and Abel motif that astounded me - Steinbeck's vivid descriptions of everything from the human mind to sunrise in Salinas has had a profound impact on my own writing. I still reference the first few pages when I write! (actually, if you look at my fic "The Most Sincere Kind of Lie," the opening paragraph is heavily inspired by the first page of East of Eden!) Finally, the biblical Book of Job changed the way I look at dialogue and interactions between flawed characters. The whole book is almost written like an ancient screenplay and deals with heavy questions like the meaning of pain and the meaning of meaninglessness without offering direct answers - which inspired me to try and include those questions in my own writing and handle them in a similar, vague, interperative way.

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

After outlining a fic, I usually start out by writing them like a screenplay with all dialogue tags and action notes written off to the side. When sarcastic banter, silly, lighthearted interactions, or intense conversations with a deeper meaning behind them start to come together, I can't help but smile. That usually gives the the extra inspirational boost I need to go back and flesh everything out so it becomes a story! (if you struggle with writing dialogue, message me on the discord and I'll be glad to tell you everything I know and send you the multitude of resources I have on the subject)

What's your least favorite part of the writing process?

Vetting works for grammatical mistakes turns writing fics into homework! I can't stand posting something and later reading just to find out that I forgot to capitalize a character's name, or that a comma is missing, or that Ao3 or FFN messed up the page breaks and I have to go back in and fix it. I'm not a perfectionist most of the time, but when I come to writing, I absolutely am.

Whats your favorite type of scene to write?

Intense philosophical debates and serious heart-to-heart conversations are by far my favorite kind of scenes to write, and that's because they're my favorite kind of scenes to observe and read! I always leave them feeling like I've gained something intellectually and emotionally, and it's my constant hope and dream to be able to impart the same kind of introspective thoughtfulness on the reader.

What's the hardest for you to write?

Allowing or even plotting for a character to go off the deep end is always such a hard thing to write. Not for them to die, necessarily, but for them to completely lose their morals, priorities, and relationships in search for something selfish or temporary. Writing them making the same mistakes over and over not because they're stupid but because they don't care about the consequences is always hard -- it's like killing off a character and replacing them with the darkest, nastiest version of themselves. Basically, writing the opposite of character development is the opposite of fun. :(

What's your favorite genre to write?

Whatever the hybrid child of angst and fluff is called, that's my baby. I find that a combination of the two can make for a really interesting experience and give me more space to explore different faucets of each character's personality. It's also the perfect breeding ground for some intense, sincere conversations.

What fandoms do you enjoy writing for?

I don't write for a lot of fandoms, just Linked Universe, Undertale, and occasionally LoZ stuff not tied directly to our nine precious boys.

What's the work you are most proud of?

I've only gotten into LU very recently, so at the time of writing this I don't have anything from the fandom that's ready to showcase. I do have some cool Undertale stuff though, at least in my opinion! If you're interested in that, there are two fics I've poured (and am currently pouring) my heart and soul into that I'm extremely proud of. The first one is 'The Reason,' which is just a quick oneshot focused on Grillby being an amazing, hardworking dad, (https://archiveofourown.org/works/24354130) and the second is Mephibosheth,' my multi-chapter pre-canon fic about the lives of Asriel and Chara. '(https://archiveofourown.org/works/23804797)

Is there a specific scene you are particularly proud of?

Going again off the works I referenced earlier, a particular scene in the ninth chapter of 'Mephibosheth' had me patting myself on the back. I can't tell you what it is, though, because it's a massive spoiler. ;)

Is there something you had to work through that forced you to grow as a writer?

At the beginning of my junior year of high school I submitted two works into a competition I was confident I would win. No, not just win, I was sure I would get first place nationally. The competition never had many submissions and I knew that the works I submitted were pretty darn good. As you can probably guess, I didn't win anything. No medal or mention, nothing. I was in shock for a good few days and considering giving up writing completely. Then I realized how stupid I was being for assuming I was entitled to an award, for writing something only for recognition, and for thinking that I should give up on something I love so much just because it didn't supply me with the endorphin rush I thought it would. I made it a goal to improve as much as humanly possible afterwards, and I'm happy to say that I think I'm making progress towards that!

Do you have any fics inspired by real life stories?

Every gremlin-like thing the boys do in my WIP LU fic "The Most Sincere Kind of Lie" (by the time this is up, it'll probably be on Ao3) is based off something I've seen my brother and sister do. They're the embodiment of utter chaos and the manifestation of the primal urge to destroy, so they're great inspiration for Link shenanigans. Also, almost all of the banter in 'Mephibosheth' has taken inspiration from one of three places; conversations I've had with my grandparents, conversations I've had with my siblings, or interviews I've watched online. Inspiration for thought-provoking dialogue has to come somewhere that's not my own brain - there aren't enough brain cells to bear the brunt of that creative burden!

Where do you post your finished works?

I post on FFN and Ao3, both under the alias Seeking7. What's that, you say? You want a link to my profile? Well, who am I to refuse?? (AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seeking7) (FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/13334645/)

#Meet The Creator #lutrain2020 #linkeduniverse #lu

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madewithonerib · 4 years

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Exodus 6:3 | I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, & to Jacob as GOD Almighty, but I did not make MYSELF known to them by MY name, ‘the LORD.’

as GOD, בְּאֵ֣ל (bə·’êl) Strong's Hebrew 410: Strength -- as adjective, mighty, the Almighty

by My name, וּשְׁמִ֣י (ū·šə·mî) Strong's Hebrew 8034: A name

‘the LORD.’ יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh) Strong's Hebrew 3068: LORD, the proper name of the GOD of Israel

Commentaries

Fun fact: Jehovah is not GOD's name. GOD's name is YHWH (usually pronounced Yahweh). Jehovah is a hybrid name the product of combining the consonants of YHWH & the vowel points of Adonai: YaHoWaH became Jehovah. Let's get on a first name basis with GOD. HIS Name is Yahweh.

Justin Peters

Donald Spence Jones [1836-1917] | Exodus 6:3

v.3—I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, & unto Jacob, by the name of GOD Almighty. See Genesis 17:1 for the revelation of this name to Abraham, & Genesis 35:11 for its repetition to Jacob.

We do not find the full name used by GOD in any appearance to Isaac; but Isaac himself uses it in [Genesis 28:3].

By MY Name YHWH was I not known unto them.

The explanation of this passage is by no means easy.

GOD HIMSELF, according to Genesis 15:7, revealed HIMSELF to Abraham as YHWH before declaring HIS Name to be El-Shaddai [GOD Almighty]; & again revealed HIMSELF to Jacob as YHWH-Elohim [Genesis 28:13].

Abraham named the place where he had been about to sacrifice Isaac, "YHWH-jireh" [Genesis 22:14].

That Moses regarded the name as known even earlier, appears from [Genesis 4:1].

It was probably as old as language. The apparent meaning of the present passage cannot therefore be its true meaning.

No writer would so contradict himself. Perhaps the true sense is, "I was known to them as a Being of might & power, not as mere absolute [and so eternal & immutable] existence.

This meaning of the word, though its etymological & original meaning, may have been unknown to the patriarchs, who were not etymologists.

It was first distinctly declared to Moses at Sinai [Exodus3:14-15].

Charles John Ellicott, Theologian [1819–1905] | Exodus 6:3

[3] I appeared..by the name of GOD Almighty—This name, “El Shaddai,” is first found in the revelation made of HIMSELF by GOD to Abraham [Genesis 17:1].

It is used by Isaac [Genesis 28:3], & repeated in the revelation made to Jacob [Genesis 35:11 ].

Its primary idea is, no doubt, that of “over powering strength".

[See the comment on Genesis 17:1]. The primary idea of “YHWH” is, on the contrary, that of absolute, eternal, unconditional, independent existence.

Both names were probably of a great antiquity, & widely spread among Semitic races; but, at different times & in different places, special stress was laid on the one or on the other.

To the early patriarchs GOD revealed HIMSELF as “El Shaddai,” because HE desired to impress upon them HIS ability to fulfil the promises which HE had made to them;

to Moses & Israel generally, at the date of the Exodus, HE insisted on HIS name YHWH, because they were in the closest contact with polytheism, & had themselves, in many cases, fallen into polytheism [Joshua 24:14], against which this Name was a standing protest, since “the Existent” must mean “the Self Existent,” & so “the Only Existent."

[See Deuteronomy 4:39 “YHWH, HE is GOD in heaven above, & upon the earth beneath: there is none else”]

By MY Name YHWH was I not known to them—Rather, was I not made manifest to them. The antiquity of the name itself appears—[1] from its derivation, which is from the obsolete havah, a form already in the time of Moses superseded by hayah; [2] from its occurrence in some of the most ancient documents inserted by Moses into the Book of Genesis,

[ie, Exodus 2:4; Exodus 2:3-4; Exodus 11:1-9]

[3] from its employment by Abraham as an element in a name [Genesis 22:14]. But though the name was ancient, & known to the patriarchs, its full meaning was not known to them, & so GOD was not manifested to them by it.

Matthew Henry, Nonconformist [1662-1714] | | Exodus 6:1-9

Exodus 6:1-9 | But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of MY mighty hand he will let them go; because of MY strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” GOD also told Moses, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, & to Jacob as GOD Almighty, but I did not make MYSELF known to them by MY name, ‘the LORD.’ I also established MY covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, & I have remembered MY covenant. Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, & I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians & deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm & with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as MY own people, & I will be your GOD. Then you will know that I am the LORD your GOD, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’” Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit & cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

6:1-9 We are most likely to prosper in attempts to glorify GOD, & to be useful to men, when we learn by experience that we can do nothing of ourselves; when our whole dependence is placed on him, & our only expectation is from HIM.

Moses had been expecting what GOD would do; but now he shall see what HE will do.

GOD would now be known by HIS name YHWH, that is, a GOD performing what HE had promised, & finishing HIS own work.

GOD intended their happiness: I will take you to ME for a people, a peculiar people, & I will be to you a GOD.

More than this we need not ask, we cannot have, to make us happy.

HE intended HIS own glory:

Ye shall know that I am theLORD.

These good words, & comfortable words, should have revived the drooping Israelites, & have made them forget their misery; but they were so taken up with their troubles, that they did not heed GOD's promises.

By indulging discontent & fretfulness, we deprive ourselves of the comfort we might have, both from GOD's WORD & from HIS providence, & go comfortless.

Albert Barnes, American Theologian [1798-1870] | Exodus 6:3

GOD Almighty - Rather, "El Shaddai," [שׁדי אל 'êl shadday], it is better to keep this as a proper name.

John Gill, Baptist & Calvinist [1697-1771] | Exodus 6:3

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, & unto Jacob, by the name of GOD Almighty,.

.. Able to fulfil all HIS purposes, promises, & covenant, with whom nothing is impossible; or Elshaddai, GOD all-sufficient, who has a sufficiency of happiness in HIMSELF, & everything to supply the wants of HIS creatures in things temporal & spiritual, [see Genesis 17:1]

But by MY Name YHWH was I not known to them; which HE had in the preceding v. called HIMSELF by.

This is not to be understood absolutely; for it is certain that HE had made HIMSELF known by this name, & this name was known unto Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, [Genesis 15:6]

But comparatively, as some think; HE was not so much made known to them by the one name as the other;

though it may be questioned whether the one was more used in speaking to them than the other; wherefore others think, as Saadiah Gaon, that the WORD only is to be supplied, as in Genesis 32:28

And the sense to be, that by HIS Name YHWH HE was not only made known to them, but by HIS Name Elshaddai, & others also; & others reconcile the difficulty thus, that though the name YHWH itself was known to the patriarchs, by which they were assured that GOD is eternal, immutable, & faithful to HIS promises;

yet HE was not known as to the efficacy of this name, or with respect to the actual performance of HIS promise,

as HE now would be by delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt, & bringing them into the land of Canaan;

Though perhaps, by reading the words with an interrogation, the clause will appear more plain, "by MY Name YHWH was I not known to them?" [t] verily I was.

Josephus [u] says, this name was not before made known to men, & that it was not lawful for a man to speak it; & this is the common notion of the Jews, that it is ineffable, & not lawful to be pronounced,

& therefore they put Adonai & Elohim in the room of it, & the vowel points of these words to it, which is a false & superstitious notion:

this name was known among the Heathens; it is the same with in the oracle of Apollo [w];

& Diodorus Siculus [x] says, that with the Jews Moses is said to give laws from a GOD called "IAO", & is the same which in Philo Byblius [y] is called Jevo;

& both are no other than a corruption of Jah or YHWH; & perhaps the of the Pythagoreans [z], by which they swore, is the same with the tetragrammaton, or this WORD of four letters, with the Jews.

Matthew Poole, Nonconformist [1624-1679] | Exodus 6:3

Quest. How is this true, when GOD was known to them, & called by the name YHWH? [Genesis 15:7, 26:24]

Answer 1.] HE speaks not of the letters or syllables, but of the thing signified by that name.

For that denotes all HIS perfections, &, amongst others, the eternity, constancy, & immutability of HIS nature & will, & the infallible certainty of HIS WORD & promises.

And this, says HE, though it was believed by Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, yet it was not experimentally known to them; for they only saw the promises afar off, [Hebrews 11:13]

Answer 2.] This negative expression may be understood comparatively, as many others are, as [Genesis 32:29 Matthew 9:13, 1 Corinthians 1:17]

They knew this but darkly & imperfectly, which will now be made known more clearly & fully.

twitter.com/JustinPetersMin/status/1057277280173445120

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zoe-oneesama · 5 years

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Okay instead of splitting this up through like 20 asks ill just use a submission. This took a while to put together and I’m not 100% sure of my own accuracy but I know I’m more accurate then ML is and I like talking about ancient mythologies, so yeah.

I know more about the stuff that happens in the afterlife and the more mundane things of ancient egyptian life then about what each indiviual pharoh did, so I did a little research based off the names ML used. I skimmed because otherwise I’d be here all day and I dont feel like the nitty gritty details were super nessacary for just explaining how wrong ML was so definitely fact check everything if you plan on putting effort into fixing the inaccuracies.

Asking one to iron out the inaccuracies in Disneys Hercules is easier task then fixing MLs made up Ancient Egyptian history. And trust me, theres a LOT inaccuracies with Disneys Hercules. But at least its still based off something real. MLs stuff is entierly made up except for the names as far as I’m aware. Nefetiti didn’t die before her husband who was actually wasnt Tutankhamun and was named Akhenaten, Tutankhamun was actually the Pharoh who came after (with the possibility that Nefetiti ruled briefly as Neferneferuaten after her husband died but the exact identity of the one between the two is unclear according to the stuff I was reading) I have no idea where ML team got the Ra taking her for himself and the Tutankhamun offering a better wife to get his back ceremony, probably 100% fabricated to aid the narrative. The afterlife was an extremely sacred thing in ancient egypt and there is no pharoh worth their name who’d try to resurect their dead spouse just out of jealously… except for that thing with Osiris but to be fair they werent even trying to resurect him and he technically wasnt “alive” alive still but thats another story. And if they ever ruled as Pharoh, that’d mean they accended to godhood after death. So I dont think itd be any amount okay with their religion to try and undo that. As far as I know Ra has only ever had a consort that was another major goddess, never “taken” a wife that wasnt a goddess from the start.

Fun fact, the goddess the akuma calls to for strength, that gives him a cat head, Sekhmet, is actually a goddess that was born from Ra pulling out his eye and then his eye turned into Sekhmet, making her his offspring, so him calling to her for strength while trying to preform a ritual that would supposedly takes Ra’s newly claimed wife away is very ironic. Hes basically going “hey goddess originally made to punish humanity give me, a human, your strength to fight these guys trying to stop me from taking your dads new wife.”

As for the art they used, I cant find a source online, but in school when learning about ancient egypt there was this thing about how they always point their feet a certain direction. I cant remember which it was, I think it was whichever made it so the left foot was in front of the right one. But the art definetly doesnt follow this rule as it has Nefetiti and Tutankhamun facing eachother.

Also theres no way some random kid who never grew out of his ancient egyptian phase would be able to desipher something teams of experienced archeologists/historian/whatever other profession that would do translating and interpeting failed to. Plus theres no reason we wouldnt be able to decipher hieroglyphics in this day and age, when you can easily get a translation key by googling it. Anything thatd be hard to interpret would be something like a ceremony represent through drawn images instead of written hieroglyphics, or something where some of the hieroglyphics were damaged or obscured beyond recognition making them impossible to read.

But anyway, I know a hell of a lot more about greek mythology then egyptian mytology, so dont take my word on this stuff for it. Just thought I’d kick start the attempt at finding the inaccuracies. Fact check fact check fact check!

Edit: submitted by @gearstorm

#this is the indepth history lesson I live for #the pharaoh #pharaoh fixes #ask zoe #submission #lol and I live for the amount of shade thrown in because why the fuck not

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itsachels · 4 years

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Italy; pt. 2

Venice, Florence, & Rome

I have to open my heart up a bit before I post. Midway through writing this, I got hit with the most overwhelming feeling of “Who on earth wants to read all of this?” That’s part of the struggle with writing. I know travel stories are usually a lot more fun for the traveler to tell than it is for the audience to listen to. That’s why it’s so fun for me to write this, because I don’t do much “story telling” after trips for fear of boring people. I can see it on their faces and it’s a little hurtful but that’s okay. I’ve been in their place enough times to not take it personally. So anyways, this is my first opportunity to tell about Italy from front to back. To be frank, no one has to read this. A big part of keeping confidence with this blog is reminding myself that this is all for me, not to please an “audience”. But it’s hard, you know? I always want some kind of approval, even if it’s never spoken…it hurts more than it should, to think someone might read my stuff and think it’s “stupid” or “pointless”. It’s all very dear to my heart so I just want others to appreciate it the way I do. If you do choose to read this…thank you! You are so appreciated, and I hope it inspires you!

Venezia

It has been so hard getting around to typing this story out. My baby is at such a clingy stage right now, which makes it hard to sit down and do this. Normally during his naps, I get housework done, but today I’m just going to ignore the mountain of dirty dishes so I can finally write. If you haven’t read Part 1, you can find it here.

On our last day in the Puglia region of Italy, we meant to go to Alberobello, but there was major confusion with the buses. Sometimes transportation was tricky, since it was all so unfamiliar. At home, if I want to go somewhere, I just jump in my car. I don’t have to worry about reading bus schedules, let alone reading them in a different language. So that left us stranded in Bari with nothing to do. We eventually ended up on a bench outside of McDonald’s, playing Sudoku and listening to music.

When it was finally time to hop on the train to Venice, we had a 7-hour train ride ahead of us. We didn’t get to there until 10 pm, so finding our air b&b was tricky. We eventually found it down a creepy dark alley (my mom’s heart rate probably just quickened). It was a studio apartment with barely any room to walk, incredibly low ceilings, and a broken shower. But it had windows that opened up to the canal and that was honestly all I wanted. We paid $88 a night which is dirt cheap to stay on the canal in Venice. It’s senseless to splurge on hotel rooms, in my opinion, when you’re only sleeping there. The more you spend, the more pressure you feel to stay and get your money’s worth rather than going out to explore the city.

We had one of our few “American” breakfasts the next morning. I say that because breakfast in Italy usually means a pastry with a cappuccino or juice. It’s hard to find places that’ll serve you much more than that. It was delicious, and this cute little café is where I had my first real Italian espresso experience. And you can bet it was my last.

We found our way to St. Mark’s square and basilica and I couldn’t stare at that church long enough! The exterior was amazing. We opted out of Doges Palace because it was expensive. I think its important to be able to let yourself miss out on things…just because it’s on most people’s itinerary, doesn’t mean it has to be on yours. Save the time and money for things you just can’t leave without experiencing. We spent our extra time that day sitting on the edge of a canal, watching gondolas pass by and soaking in the sunshine.

We stumbled into the Galleria dell’ Accademia. It wasn’t originally part of our itinerary (we barely had one to begin with), but we saw a sign saying Leonardo DaVinci’s art was on display, including “Vitruvian Man”. Alex was so excited to see it, which made me enjoy it even more.

One regret I have is not noting the names of some restaurants we liked. Like, I still daydream about the paninis and peach bellini we had that day. Anyways, around that area we saw the Bridge of Sighs. In case you don’t know the backstory, it was the bridge prisoners were led across on the way towards their execution. The little gated windows gifted them with one last view of Venice.

After some souvenir shopping on the Rialto bridge, we napped back at the room. Not to be dramatic, but I almost couldn’t walk anymore. That was followed up with dinner at a cute little restaurant that reminded me of the Lady & the Tramp’s spaghetti & meatballs scene. We pigeon-watched in a small plaza afterwards, listening to the water flow down the canal and talking until sundown. It was pretty romantic, if I do say so myself. If I had to describe Venice in one word, it’d be that: romantic.

Thus, ended our one day there. I wish we had more time. We ate cereal and yogurt in our room the next morning, dropped the key in the box, and rode the vaporetto back to the train station. By afternoon, we would be in Alex’s #1 bucket list city: Florence.

Firenze

When I look back on Florence I mainly think of gelato, drizzling rain, ceilings covered in intricate and vivid paintings, and of course the Renaissance architecture (I’m looking at you, Maria del Fiore).

Our hotel (Hotel Lorena) in Florence was so sweet. It was basically a hole in the wall; we almost didn’t see the entrance when we were walking past. It was owned by the nicest man with the strongest Italian accent I’ve ever heard. His mother was his assistant🥺, and she while she showed me to our room she asked about my pregnancy and said a baby boy is one of the greatest gifts I will ever receive. I wish I could tell her how right she was!

Okay. I have to talk about the Medici Chapelle Ristorante. I will never forget that meal, in all my days. The best part was the cocoli…fried dough drizzled in honey…a Tuscan beignet. That one in a lifetime meal was followed by gelato, on the steps of the Medici chapel, before turning in for the night.

The next day was big because we were setting out for the Duomo. It was only a couple of blocks away from Hotel Lorena; we had a view of it from our bedroom window. It rained a good bit but we still had fun seeing the incredible exterior of the church and the inside, which was also beautiful. We were blessed to be able to attend mass there. Did you know that in 1601, lightning struck the copper sphere on top of the cathedral, and it smashed into the ground? You can not appreciate how far that ball fell until you’re standing in the building’s shadow. There’s a marble circle marking the spot where it landed.

The bell tower had an unforgettable view of the city and goes higher than the church’s dome, which is what people normally choose as their viewpoint. The stairway was so narrow, there were times I seriously wasn’t sure the crowd could get through. At least all the work was well worth the view.I am not ashamed of what we spent as Ditti Artigeniale the next morning because we were desperate for one of those “American” breakfasts I was talking about. It gave us plenty of energy for exploring Pitti Palace and all of its beautiful painted ceilings. Why don’t we decorate like that anymore???? In the backyard were the Boboli gardens, which were by far one of the prettiest sights I saw on our trip. A garden on a hill, in full bloom, with the Tuscan countryside for a backdrop? Yes, please.

No, we didn’t see the statue of David. Remember our conversation about where to put your money? We didn’t want to put it there. I just really didn’t want to spend $50 to see a statue I wasn’t very excited about. We settled for a free viewing of its replica, which happened to be near the Fountain of Neptune. If you stare at any chunk of concrete in Florence, let this fountain be it. It was breathtaking. I feel like this whole paragraph could be very offensive to an art connoisseur. Sorry!!! I’m sure David is very handsome and I am not comparing the fountain to a chunk of concrete.

Florence was a lot like Polignano a mare in the fact that we spent so much time walking around, stumbling into churches and shops and just trying to figure out where to eat next. We had a very slow pace on this trip and didn’t hesitate to stop by our hotel for a nap when we felt a yawn coming on. A nap in Italy is better than a nap at home! Our days were really simple and easy. No pressure, no running to “fit it all in”. It was unhurried strolling, easy conversation, and letting the day unravel however it wanted to.

Rome

A harsh contrast from that last paragraph: Rome was intense. My legs were bruised from all the walking. One evening I tried to wipe off what I though was bluish dirt (?) on my thighs, and when it wouldn’t give, I realized they were bruises! Not from bumping into anything but just from the stress of carrying a baby all over the city. And our b&b was just weird. People didn’t seem to understand “modesty” when walking out of the bathroom, our host was kind of a stick in the mud, and it was down a sketchy/dirty street. I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m not. It was so cheap and steps away from the metro. It was also above a corner shop that sold delicious cappuccinos and pastries for only 2 euros, so that supplied our breakfast every day. We didn’t mind all the little annoyances and it just made for more memories. Believe me, Rome was beyond worth it.

We started with a free walking tour guided by a local college student. He did amazing; these tours are a good way to get your feet wet in a new city. It gives you a feel for the layout and your guide can share little things that you wouldn’t know otherwise. For example, in the Piazza del Popolo, we had sat under a big statue playing i-spy. We just thought it was a nice place to people-watch. As it turns out, we were sitting in the shadow of a 4000+ year old Egyptian obelisk. We never would’ve known! Our guide also took us to the Pantheon; Alex was so cute with how excited he was.

Before the tour, when we saw the Spanish steps (so beautiful in person), we went to the church at the very top. If you paid a euro or two, you could light a prayer candle. We lit one for Noah. It’s really special to me that he was on that trip with us, even though he was obviously still in the womb. Because we want to continue traveling as a family, it felt like the beginning of something exciting.

That was just day one…the rest of our Rome adventure included the Colosseum and surrounding areas, lots of people-watching in different piazzas, an interesting night in the Trastevere neighborhood, a fun little trip to the countryside to tour the Catacombs, and aaaall the glory of the Vatican. Rome deserves a longer piece, but I feel like I’ve exhausted myself sharing what I have so far. I’ll save it for a rainy day. Even then, though, I simply cannot tell all about Rome without writing a whole book. I wish I could share every funny story and mishap and surprise. You just have to see it for yourself.

And that is my story of Italy. If you’re debating a trip, go. It’s a gem you get to carry in your heart for a lifetime after. I hope reading this inspires some ideas!

#italy #rome #florence #venice #polignano #a mare #travel #adventure #cappuccino #pastries #story

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letstraveltoorion · 6 years

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Why a story about Master of Orion? (Part 2)

2018-09-10

Although I explained why I’ve decided to do a story on Master of Orion, I’ve never really explained the reasons behind that story. Reasons that are both complexes and quite nebulous in some area.

First, I must admit this is not my first attempt at writing. For as long as I remembered, I’ve tried very hard to come up with a story. Usually, those attempts were basically my take a story I liked and spines it my way. Today, I recognized those failed attempts as trial runs for a story one day I will write. Some of these failed starts were based on Yoko Tsuno (French Graphic novels), Robotech (my favourite setting), Battletech, Jovian Chronicles, Heavy Gear and others. All of them grandiose in my mind … all of them, except maybe one, were sent to oblivion.

To be frank, I’ve lost faith in my abilities to come up with a good story. I keep dreaming but I never come up with anything … worth writing for. That is, until a couple of years ago … sometimes in 2016, I stumble upon “the dialogue”!

The Seed

One particular weekend of 2016, not fully awake yet, I surprised myself imagining a conversation between two entities in regard of a third party. It went like this:

“They’re courageous and clever … maybe we should help them a bit?”

“No!” Responded the second being. “Leave them! They are below our considerations, not worth our energies.”

“Really?” interjected the first being, “I notice they have mastered the primary basic of nuclear energy, and they have managed to build a starship to travel beyond their solar system…”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Protested the other one. “Giving enough resources, time and a good dose of luck, any animals could develop nuclear weapons and build starships! It doesn’t mean they have reached enlightenment at all…”

At this point, I “woke up” with the realization that “I got something! I do not know what it is, but I got something!”

This realization leads me to reflect on our perception of civilizations throughout history and how we “rank” them through their scientific and technological achievements … but then, I came to ask: What if another civilization had “other” criteria’s? How “we” will be judged by “them”? What if a civilization put more value on the philosophical concepts rather than technology? Or how good are we to make the lands fertile and bountiful? Or in a more exotic way, what if they value magic or psi powers?

Sure, I must not be the first one to think about these concepts but, it got me thinking about how I could explore these concepts…

This was the seed for my story.

The Field

Having the seed is one thing, but to explore this seed to its full potential, I needed a canvas, a sandbox, where I could explore and play with it in any way I saw fit. I chose “Master of Orion” mainly because I enjoyed the game and working a story in that setting should to be fun to do. I said “should”, as it turns out much more work than I originally thought. To be honest, Master of Orion is just a frame for my story. A strong and solid frame in where I can weave anything I want. This frame provided me with textures and flavours along with a general guide line or a starting point to depart from.

Since that frame is quite neutral, neither good nor bad, this means for the story I’m writing that it success or failure will rest solely on my shoulders…

Damn! This is pretty heavy.

The Water

Following my original reasoning, I started to gather data to assist me in my world-building process. During that time, I stumble upon two pieces of information that would shape both the type of story I will tell but also the background of the story…. The primordial “spark” if you wish.

The first information was the myth of Orion himself. On how he would hunt and kill every creature of the Earth was stopped by a scorpion sent by the gods and also, on how both were placed in the sky as constellations … the Scorpion forever chasing Orion in the Milky Way.

Now, I’m sure the people at Microprose probably never thought of the full implications in symbolism then when they put out their second game Master of Orion: Battle at Antares. On how this title fit perfectly with the mythology of Orion.

The second information I stumble upon was the fact that Orion was known as Osiris by the ancient Egyptians. This in turn, let me investigate the ancient Egyptian’s myth which proves to be a bountiful as I’ve found many elements I could apply into my story.

As you can see, this is an opportunity way too good to pass up…. Those ancient myths, or at least some part of them, could be used a background source for long past events that shaped the current universe. So, Mythology will be the water of my story; past events have dramatically affected the galaxy and those ramifications are still felt today.

Mythology also gave me a way to study the interaction between the gods and the mortal. Why? Because: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (Arthur C. Clark). Which means that if mankind has to, one day, deal with a type II or type III civilization (from the Karshev’s Scale), their achievement will look like magic to us and they will probably act like gods toward us.

As water is required for life to grow, I will use mythological tales to infuse life in my story; especially when I have to deal with occurrences that happened thousands of years ago that are still impacting the current events of today.

The Fertilizers

Because a story is, like any other story, a living thing that will grow and evolve as I’m writing it, I will also require some “fertilizer” to help it grow. In this particular case, this will apply to the multitudes of books, novel, comic books and Bandes-dessinnées (French Graphic Novel) I have at my disposal. As I move forward, those books and publications that inspire me for this story will be posted into my Bibliography section of my blog. Also, by reading the description I’ll write about them, you’ll be able to see and understand what part of this specific book or story is fuelling my imagination. But here a few examples:

RPG

Among these sources, you’ll find Role Playing Games (RPG) such as Traveller and 2300 AD, mostly for their world-building materials (very good sources of inspirations). Empire Galactique, one of the rare French RPG by François Nedelec which I love because it gave me a sense of grandeur of what could be a real Galactic Empire. Although the rules are a bit obsolete, its encyclopedia galactica gave me a sets of rules for commerce and judicial systems.

There is also the series Numenéra and their Cypher system by Monte Cook, which include other universe like the Strange, Predations, etc. But Mostly Numenéra because it gave me a visual look of what could be the left-over of a type one or two civilizations. Without their work, my imagination would never have flared up as it did for this project.

But before I go any further, I must also do a special mention to an almost forgotten RPG from TSR (now Wizard of the Coast); the grandfather of the sci-fi genre in the RPG industry… I named Starfrontiers! Launched on the heel of Advanced Donjons & Dragons, perhaps around the same times as Traveller, this game capitalized on the AD&D enthusiasm, this little space opera RPG, although quite cheese by today’s standards, had quite a few details right and to my surprise, can still be relevant today with only a few slight modifications. But what I retain the most from that game was their antagonist: the Sathar! The sathars were an alien race that were enigmatic, sneaky, highly advanced in cybernetic and very deadly … all the marks of a great villain.

There is also the multitude of books of the G.U.R.P.S. by Steve Jackson Games. Due to the intensive research that went into those books, they provided me background or layout on subject I was not familiar with or, like the rest of us, got warped vision of Hollywood and TV shows.

Also, I need to include the multitude universes published by Palladium Books. Their unique take on different subjects was enough to fire my imaginations. Going from their high fantasy world of Paladium World to their post-apocalyptic future of Rifts, and not forgetting their take on the Vietnam War, or the Robotech franchise to their Superhero or super spy genre, every one of them had something to contribute or get inspiration from.

Lastly, I must also include the work of Games Workshop in Warhammer 40,000. Not because of their dystopia future they describe but for the simple fact it was the, maybe not the first, but the most recent example of what it would take to have an Empire on a GALACTIC scale. On that level, their take on the subject is unchallenged and unmatched.

Books and Novels

Other sources of inspiration come from old stories and novels, such as the work of A. E Van Vogt (more specifically the novella “The Monster [a.k.a. Resurrection]” published in 1948. There is also the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs [mostly the Barsoom series] who are still a great source of inspiration for me.

Another writer is Edmond Hamilton who happens to be the writer of one of my childhood hero Capitaine Flam [Captain Future in English]. I didn’t make the link between both of them until a few years back. At the time my favourite story by him was “the Dead Planet”, which I read as part of an anthology. It was when I started to do my research for this current work that I came to the realization of who he was and de facto gave me a greater respect for the man and his work.

Of course, there are many other writers whom I can name here but let just say it will be easier to simply read about them in my Bibliography section of my blog. However, I can’t end this part of my reasoning without talking about one of the most influential piece of science-fiction to me: Perry Rhodan.

Perry Rhodan is a German science-fiction serial novel that started in 1961 and still going strong today. The brainchild of Karl-Herbert Scheer and Clark Darlton, their story started with the first venture of man to the moon and ended up pitching our hero onto a massive galactic background. Right from the beginning, the series had beam weapons, jump drives, teleportation, psychic powers, alien [both humanoid and not], positronic brain, robots, a dying galactic empire, etc. If one thing could define the series, it is the scales of things: EVERYTHING is done on an epic scale. Going from ships that vary between 800 metres and 2.5 km, to planet size arsenal and factories, to engineering on a galactic scale … everything is HUGE. Trust me, what could be a better source of inspiration if you want to do an epic space opera than the grandfather of the genre?

Out of my French side, there are also two little-known writers that I really enjoyed and have influenced my work: Frank Dartal and P.-J. Hérault. Frank Dartal, on which I could barely find any information at all, wrote stories in the 70s and 80s that are still readable by today’s standard … which is quite an achievement if you think about it. The second, P.-J. Hérault, impressed by his profound humanity and his love for flying which he managed to infuse all of his work.

Games

As I mentioned earlier, two games that I plan to use as a source of inspiration and, also I might also include elements of both in my story. The first one is another computer game by Binary System and the other is Galactic Empires, the collective card game by Companion Games.

Starflight … back in the late 80s that game was one of the best in the genre. Part action, part quest, part exploration and part business … but most important, 100 percent fun. Back then, it is quite poetic to have a ship for which you had to hire the right crew and be sent on a mission to find the cause that makes your sun going nova. As you explore the space around you, collecting minerals and clues, meeting aliens and fighting some implacable enemies, until you find the culprit and destroy it. As I said, 100% fun! However, it was in their sequel, Starflight 2, that Binary System lifted the veil on some of the questions that were left unanswered in the first game. Mainly who were the Uhlek and where they came from. This origin story game me the idea of a great antagonist, a Sauron or Galactus type of antagonist that may, one day come to threaten all life in the galaxy, if not the universe itself. Lastly, because the game was so good, I might include some of their alien races in my story. The beauty of it all is that it will mix perfectly to what I want to write and it will not contradict what was already published in Master of Orion. But don’t worry I’m still very far from that goal and I do not even know if I’ll ever reach that point … as it stands right now.

This brings me to the second game: Galactic Empires. This game came out in the wake of Magic the Gathering card game. However, although well thought the game never really took off. However, they had some great ideas in it. Because of this, I intent to use some of them in my story. More specifically things like spatial phenomena, some space creature, a few strange planet and, of course, some alien races. Among those are the Krebiz Capitalist Alliance, the Indirigan Tribes [space nomads] and but not least, the Space Dragons.

What? Space Dragons? Well, since there was a space dragon event in the very first Master of Orion, I thought it could be nice to reintroduce them in my story … but I intent of tweaking them to make them a bit more … galactic!

That said, there are also numerous movies and TV shows that I could name but I need to conclude this so…

In conclusion, the main reason why I’m doing this is to give a canvas for my creativity and a means to keep my sanity. In the last few years, I came to realize that one of the reasons I was not happy at my work was the simple fact that I had no venue for my creativity. The day-to-day work only serves to grind my mind and personality into dust. That if I didn’t do something fast I was running the risk to see my soul die! And because the feeling of being useless and powerless can kill a man as surely as a gun or cyanide would be the main motivation for this story.

I am not looking for fame or fortunes. I just want to write and tell a good story that will entertain you and make you dream a bit… If you like what I wrote and make you want to know more … then I have reached my goal.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Come on board, the journey is about to start and, I hope, it will be amazing.

Alain Vollant.

#Why #Orion #MOO #Writers Notes.

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emileewilson · 6 years

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THE G WORD

I wrote this blog months ago. It’s time to share my story and some exciting news! I’m re-branding my business to include herbal education, workshops, and more! The entrepreneurial journey has been fun for me as I grow and expand my offerings. I am so happy to offer skincare and beauty services, but my practice has evolved into so much more. The following true story is told from my heart and I hope you’ll embrace my new brand with enthusiasm and support. This is my story from Gypsy Skin Spa to Wild N Rooted.

It has been brought to my attention recently that a word exists. This word is part of our English language and our cosmology. This word has many meanings, it is powerful, controversial, and mysterious.

Gypsy.

Some people believe it to be a racial slur, others believe it to be a lifestyle and some have no idea what the word is, means, where it comes from, how to say it, or even care. You can see where this may cause some issues and concerns. Due to its controversial nature, I used it once, but will refrain from using it moving forward out of respect for those reading this who deem it offensive.

This is my story and how I birthed my lifestyle brand in 2015. This word resonates with me deeply in a very authentic way. It is an expression of my being. After being attacked online and accused of being a racist, I strongly felt the need to tell my story. I want to talk about it. This dilemma, this idea, this age of offending is an opportunity for education and to begin co-creating a high vibe around the label.

You see, our English language is convoluted in historical accounts that many of us didn’t even know existed. For instance, the word “Bucket List” actually comes from hanging someone by “kicking the bucket” out from beneath them before they die. Did you know that Hooligans are associated with the Irish? Vandals, the Germans? The G word are associated with the ethnic group, Roma or Romany, who immigrated into parts of Eastern Europe. The locals thought they were from Egypt or Egyptian (hence gyp) which we now know as they begin to have a voice in literature and other cultural affairs. They identify with Roma, Romani, Romany, or Rroma. I’m what you call a European Mutt, which is essentially a dog mixed with who knows what and I don’t like it very much. Alas, society has deemed that description appropriate.

My focus is on the positive aspects of the G word discussion and how we can use it to free the people under this guise, not slander them. More importantly, that we stop grouping people together and/or generalizing, stereotyping subgroups of people or minorities in the first place. There are good people and bad people. Period. There are all types of different people in this world. I mean, there are ALOT of us! We have different ideas, perspectives, opinions, customs, foods, languages, fashions, economics, currency, status, religions, and experiences. This all happens simultaneously as life spirals along, upwards and outwards.

My personal story regarding this particular identity began when I was 30 years old, also known as my Saturn Return, when the walls around me would literally come crashing down. My roommates and I were residing in Marina Del Rey, CA and we all lived peaceful, independent lives. A large development company purchased the property and our landlord told us to vacate. During this time, I also lost my job and couldn’t afford to pay my bills. A dance troupe that I created and adored fell apart at the seams and my Grandmother passed away. I went on unemployment and moved back in with my parents. Welcome to the Boomerang Generation.

Although grateful for this landing, it was uncomfortable. I got a part time job in a small salon, but my business couldn’t thrive without clientele. Soon enough, I decided to go back to College in Fullerton and soon I found myself back in Los Angeles living in West Hollywood. This was an interesting time. I had ditched an abusive boyfriend, my car was broken into, very important documents like college homework and documentary drafts were stolen. I was drunk most of the time falling into a deep state of depression. I had also discovered Ayahuasca as a medicine, something that would change my life in the most extraordinary way.

Still to come at 32 years old, I was forced to file Bankruptcy, the banks wouldn’t accept my income loss or life changes. Eventually, I found another spa in Redondo Beach, CA and moved into a room with the generous Persian couple who owned it. A month later, I met a nice Indian man in Hawthorne and I rented a room from him. He was a single father with a daughter and a gorgeous white Shepherd named Bella. To supplement my income, I began working as a cocktail waitress while developing my clientele. No more than 3 months later, the restaurant folded. My inappropriate employer kept my last paycheck and I wasn’t making enough money at the spa to live on my own. I moved back to Culver City with my Aunt and shared a room with a friend. I lived there for, you guessed it, about 3 months. During this time, I was able to get another part time job in Santa Monica at a small spa called Petite Spa with a lot of potential, as well as taking up an offer to work for a high- profile ticket broker in Huntington Beach. This led me to a short stint in Orange County. I even got a third job working part time at another day spa. Less than 3 months later, I was fired from the office job and so I quit the esthetic job and moved back to Los Angeles. I found a small studio in Mar Vista, CA. One room, no kitchen, and it became my sacred space for 2 years.

With hardly anything, but a strong will and a humbled spirit, my private practice as an Esthetician and Herbalist was born. The journey was already under way.

In 2016 I studied in New York with a wise, old woman named Susun Weed, a Witch. All five of her apprentices were not allowed to say the word “guy.” It was unacceptable around her and she would only accept “Gaia” instead. It was difficult to change my habitual language, but eventually I started to remember. I admired how she created her reality, yet I feared her verbal abuse. Ironic eh? I lived on her land for two weeks and was initiated as a Green Witch, polishing my toe green as the final induction. The Washington Post wrote a great article about the word “guy” and its origins. Although now common language, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a “person of grotesque appearance.” When I came back to L.A, I began noticing how many people said “Guy” when referring to myself and women. It really bothered me. I attempted to correct them several times, then held my tongue, then it became plain awkward. Nobody cared. It was a construct. Once I realized my offenders never intended to insult or hurt me, I stopped physically hearing it. I can’t even remember the last time. I know they’re saying it, but I just can’t hear them. The origin of “guy” has become a fun fact in Etymology. Now it means “a man or woman.” It’s amazing how our language morphs, twists and turns, along with history, experiences and ideologies.

Why am I telling you my life story? Well, because it all has to do with the G word. With all of that being said, we are still in a predicament because the G word is STILL used as a derogatory ethnic slur in other parts of the world. In this very moment. In fact, people all over the world continue to oppress minorities and entire countries still deny genocides and documented accounts of massive human extermination. This pains my heart so. I dream of a peaceful planet where all cultures can learn from one another, respecting the language, food, music, fashion, art, and religious views. May we all migrate toward our tribes. This is a tall order; however, THIS is my focus, not how the G word has dubious meanings around the globe. My work is to continue finding my truth, my voice, and stand up for what I believe in. Of course, my writings and teachings are a part of this. I believe in service to the people, empowering women and leaving the world a cleaner place. It’s that simple.

There is freedom and oppression within the G word. It has become an archetype. At age 3, my mother chose this as my costume on Halloween, dressing me in a gold scarf, bright red lipstick, blush and hoop earrings (clip on of course!). Let us think about it as an archetype. Like Witch, Faerie, Crone, Goddess, and Bitch, all those that we have reclaimed. Allow for the good, the bad, and the ugly. I don’t subscribe to living in a paradigm that even allows for racism. Using the word racist and race separates us more than it holds us. I think that for people in the U.S, the G word conjures up feelings of traveling, romance, fashion, mystery, a free spirit, natural living, family, and determination. The irony and most painful part of this archetype is that one group of people on one side of the world felt and feel offended by it, and the other groups in the West have gained wild open-hearted freedom from it. We must ponder as a society, no matter where we were in the past, we are here today and need to continue moving forward together. We cannot suspend each other in the past. As my Mentor once said, “It’s ok to look into the rear-view mirror every once in a while, but you can’t drive the car that way.”

I consistently check myself and tune into my energy. When I’m feeling off, I have to take a deep breath and move it into a higher vibration. Living in society with different people has its challenges, but I believe it is our human right to feel happy and free no matter what our circumstances. I wish this upon all cultures. Instead of accepting a slur from the oppressors, the people of Romany are in a great position to reclaim themselves. Let us embrace the real G word and may they come into the light. Let the women tell their stories, entering into evolution. My prayer is that we release the word into the ethers and let peace fall upon the land of the aggrieving. My highest belief about this is that we are one human race thriving together on Planet Earth.

So here we are back in my studio apartment. I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to create work for myself, with my own two hands. I had to discover my passion, my gifts, and share them with the world. I had to learn from other women and I also promised myself I would stay in one place as long as I could. Humbled by my life on the road, I was finally feeling confident, independent, and free once again. I began embracing my call to the wild, to ceremony, Paganism, the plants, and natural healing methods, reading books, apprenticing, and attending workshops. I studied myself. I studied others. Along with the Magician, The G word was becoming a strong presence in my life. I still receive gifts to this day that represent G word magic.

What I did not know until recently is that the Romany are STILL being oppressed in Eastern Europe and the G Word is not a nice word at all.

I interviewed a couple Roma men that I found online. I interviewed Romany women who use the term in their business brand. They told me that the prejudices are still occurring against them. They all said they are not personally offended by the word, but warned that others may be. As a woman of mixed European descent, I am always searching for cultural traditions that I can call my own. I grew up with a small family and little tradition. This is partly why I am so drawn to the archetype and the lifestyle, one that allows me freedom, contrary to what others feel the G word means.

I am a privledged white woman. I will use my voice to help others in need. I will continue to lead by example. I am a Lover. I am a Magician. I am a Manifestor. I am not an oppressor. I am not a racist. I AM wild and rooted.

The Archetype that I felt would continue to represent my journey, my dream, and my passion was Gypsy (oops I said it), but after months of pondering the last three years of my life in the herbal world and reading historical accounts of this word and how misused it has been, it has left a rather bitter taste on my lips. I have decided to evolve myself, my name, and my brand to include more herbal knowledge, medicine making skills, and workshops. A name that I feel will bring the people together. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Things really do happen for a reason and sometimes buttons get pushed for a higher purpose. I will be launching a new website soon so stay tuned!!! I created a name that represents my most divine constitution. A name that is not controversial, or offensive, but one that remains powerful and meaningful to me. I belong to no one.

I AM WildNRooted!!

Emilee Amara

Holistic Facials, Herbalist

#wildnrooted wildandrooted gypsyskin business skincare small business rebrand

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fictionfreakazoid · 6 years

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Live Action Aladdin Movie Innacurate Casting

I’ve been meaning to do this post for a while, but I just procrastinated and I regret that now. But I have to at least try.

Let me start off by stating the facts explicitly. Naomi Scott is not Arab or Middle Eastern. She has Indian roots - I believe her dad is Indian and her mom is white. Currently, she is the person who was cast as Jasmine, the lead female in Disney’s new live action of the movie Aladdin. Disney’s original Aladdin had a clearly Arabian setting, although in the original story Aladdin is not Arab (but rather Chinese, I am still shocked at this, apparently people just chose the Middle East as the setting for a lot of the interpretations of the story). Proof of the clearly Arabian setting: the song Arabian nights, the Middle Eastern style marketplace, the Middle Eastern style architecture of the palace, the Middle Eastern style clothing/dress, etc.

After doing some research after still being mad at the casting choice, I found out that apparently, they had asked for only Indians and Middle Eastern people to audition. First off, this is insulting to both cultures. It’s implying that the cultures are interchangeable, and they really aren’t. Indian culture is vastly different than Middle Eastern culture (although I can’t really speak for Indian culture, I had a few good friends who were Indian and from what I’ve heard from them and know in general it’s pretty different than Arabic culture). Although many Middle Eastern countries are mostly Muslim and Arab, and India does have a bigger percentage of the Muslims in the Middle East, that does not equate to interchangeable cultures. Second off, it’s just as bad as white-washing. They cast someone half-Indian to play a character that’s clearly intended to be Middle Eastern. They knew that it was a Middle Eastern setting and yet they chose to cast someone who wasn’t Middle Eastern as the main female lead. That’s basically like telling us Middle Eastern people upfront that we’re not good enough/important enough to be represented properly. From what I’ve seen at this point, there is some Middle Eastern cast, and I’m ok with Will Smith because he’s playing the part of the genie who is mythical in the firstplace and isn’t necessarily Middle Eastern and will probably be CGI somehow anyways. Upon researching for this post, I found out that there are several other non-Middle Eastern actors and actresses. I had read that they had been trying to get good and accurate representation for this movie, but how can they claim that when they literally asked for Indian actors? I honestly doubt there is a serious lack of Middle Eastern actors, and even if there was some here, it would’ve been well worth the effort to go find some (also it’s Disney and I doubt they have a shortage of resources at their disposal) and it seems like this was a conscious choice of casting. This is doing the same thing as whitewashing - it is representing someone who was clearly meant to be of a specific ethnicity with someone who isn’t that ethnicity.

To be blunt, Middle Eastern representation in the film is pretty weak and usually bad at this point in time. And by bad I don’t mean that the few Middle Eastern actors that do get roles are bad, I mean that usually Middle Eastern characters, especially Arabs, are terrorists or are people in some violent organizations or whatever. Although high percentages of Middle Easterns are Muslims (not the other way around though, Muslims aren’t majority Middle Eastern), that’s not a good excuse to make all Middle Eastern characters terrorists. Usually a lot of hate that Muslims get carries over to Middle Eastern people and obviously this affects representation in film. It’s not even acceptable that honestly the miniscule number of characters in film that are Muslim are also usually terrorists/violent, but that’s a whole other problem. As a mass consumer of film, it really hurts that there isn’t a lot of representation of my ethnicity and when there is it’s usually negative. I never see myself or my people on screen. Yes, I know there is Middle Eastern film but I shouldn’t have to rely on that (plus I’m not comprehensively fluent in Arabic to understand it fully). Not only is the lack of good Middle Eastern representation in film just disheartening, but it’s also not helping with our image in the media. It’s undeniable that Middle Easterns have a bad image in the media because of the political turmoil and the terrorists that are Muslim in name only. Middle Eastern people and Muslims desperately need positive and quality representation in film. A lot of people only hear and see that Muslims (and thus ignorance leads to this carrying out to Middle Eastern people) are terrorists and should be feared. There’s also a lot of dislike of the religion itself and many people just see it as oppressive, especially with Muslim women and the hijab (though that in particular is a rant for another time). That’s not just a terrible image to have, but it puts all of us at risk. Having positive and quality Middle Eastern and Muslim characters can not only show that we’re good and normal people but the better image would also make people discriminate against us less and commit less hate crimes against us. Not everyone will be able to make Middle Eastern or Muslim friends, but most people will have access to film and will recognize and love good characters.

When I first heard that Disney was making a live-action adaptation of their Aladdin, I was excited but worried. And it turns out I was right to be worried. Disney has a HUGE reach worldwide. With this movie, they could’ve made a phenomenal impact on Middle Eastern representation. If they had an accurately Middle Eastern cast, then they could’ve kickstarted not only better Middle Eastern representation in the media but also the casting of more Middle Eastern actors. Although they had said that they were going to give us proper representation, they have a significant amount of people who aren’t Middle Eastern. When I first saw some of the Middle Eastern cast, especially Mena Massoud (who is fully Egyptian) as Aladdin, I was excited because I thought Disney was gonna pull their marvelous enhancement to their original animated stories like they did with the jungle book and beauty and the beast and also give us the good representation we deserve. I loved Aladdin as a kid and I still love the original now. Although I had some small problems with it, the movie as a whole was acceptable as a classic and it was an amazing movie. And Jasmine was a pretty, strong, smart Arab female and that was inspiring to me and it still is inspiring. I mean the line “I am not a prize to be won”? That line is pure feminism and empowerment. Sometimes for fun, I would imagine her as a hijabi and that was and still is one of my favorite fantasies for representation. But then I found out that they cast Naomi Scott as Jasmine and that she had no Middle Eastern roots whatsoever. I felt crushed, I still feel crushed. An accurate cast for her would’ve been so inspiring, not just to me, but also the little girls. They could’ve had a strong Middle Eastern princess but now little girls just won’t get that inspiration and role model but rather someone from a different ethnicity. You think it’s nice to tell them “oh, you could’ve had a strong female princess who’s like you but instead we’re picking someone else”? I’m an adult and I don’t like hearing that. Worst of all, a lot of them might not even find out and they just won’t have the princess they deserved.

Honestly, this casting choice is an insult to us and us Middle Easterns need and deserve accurate representation. Disney could’ve given us a much-needed breakthrough in representation, but they decided not to. Please help me boost this because we deserve to be heard. The movie Aladdin is supposed to be a movie to represent us and I don’t think Naomi Scott (or the other actors excluding will smith that should be Middle Eastern) should represent us.

#aladdin #disney #middle easterns #arabs #actors #movies #representation #middle eastern representation #naomi scott #I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS #jasmine

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