User talk:Andrew Dalby/Archive 2006 to 2008

Hi, Andrew, and thanks for your article about Ioannes Dukas. Could you please announce your new articles on medieval subjects at Wikipedia:WikiProject Middle Ages/New Articles? Thanks. --Ghirla ^-трёп- 06:37, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I'll do that with pleasure, Ghirla. Andrew Dalby http://perso.wanadoo.fr/dalby/ 09:25, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

And if you need to sign your name just click on the signature button in the menu above or type four tildas (~~~~). Happy edits, Ghirla ^-трёп- 11:35, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Welcome! thanks for your edits on Trobairitz. For the ones that have short passages in the main Trobairitz page, they used to have separate pages, which I then turned to redirects. I did this because I was worried there wasn't enough information to put a separate page for each of them. The point is, if you want to create larger articles for them, it might be easier for you to go into the history and revert to the longer version and modify that. Happy editing! Mak (talk) 19:00, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Hello Andrew, Virgil61 from UNRV (and wikipedia), just ran across your name and discovered you here. Thought I'd pop in and say hello, look forward to reading some of your contributions. Virgil61 16:13, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

HELP US MAKING THE PROJECT OF ANCIENT GREEK WIKIPEDIA

We are the promoters of the Wikipedia in Ancient Greek. we need your help, specially for write NEW ARTICLES and the TRANSLATION OF THE MEDIAWIKI INTERFACE FOR ANCIENT GREEK, for demonstrating, to the language subcommittee, the value of our project.

Thanks a lot for your help. Ἡ Οὐικιπαιδεία needs you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.40.197.5 (talk) 19:55, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? has been updated. A fact from the article Nicetas, Bogomil bishop, which you recently created, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Re: troubadours' names

On spellings of names, I agree with you that Provençal/Occitan names are much better than Frenchified ones. If I were you, I would standardize on Provençal forms wherever possible. Will do, I hope people won't have a cow about it. Thanks for the clean up of my articles, by the way. Complainer 00:55, 21 April 2006 (UTC)complainer

Whatever names are used primarily and for titling, it is important to have the various other versions (Gallicisations) somewhere in the article for searchability and comprehensiveness. Secondly, having noticed the various new Troubadour articles cropping up here and there, is there a category "Troubadours" yet? Srnec 01:55, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Other versions of names: yes, I agree, and will try always to keep it in mind! Searchability is very important. Of course, if you are aware of an alternative name that isn't currently mentioned, I'm sure you'll add it.

Categories: I introduced the category 'Occitan poets', which seemed to me to fit better with the general structure. Until somebody writes about some more recent Occitan poets, this overlaps almost totally with 'Troubadours' (though 'Troubadours' is gender-specific), because there are scarcely any named medieval Occitan poets in other genres. In addition, there are the manually maintained lists at Troubadour, Trobairitz and (for their northern French colleagues) Trouvère. But if you wanted to add a 'Troubadour' and 'Trobairitz' category, I certainly wouldn't object! Andrew Dalby 13:10, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

VandalProof 1.2 Now Available

After a lenghty, but much-needed Wikibreak, I'm happy to announce that version 1.2 of VandalProof is now available for download! Beyond fixing some of the most obnoxious bugs, like the persistent crash on start-up that many have experienced, version 1.2 also offers a wide variety of new features, including a stub-sorter, a global user whitelist and blacklist, navigational controls, and greater customization. You can find a full list of the new features here. While I believe this release to be a significant improvement over the last, it's nonetheless nowhere near the end of the line for VandalProof. Thanks to Rob Church, I now have an account on test.wikipedia.org with SysOp rights and have already been hard at work incorporating administrative tools into VandalProof, which I plan to make available in the near future. An example of one such SysOp tool that I'm working on incorporating is my simple history merge tool, which simplifies the process of performing history merges from one article into another. Anyway, if you haven't already, I'd encourage you to download and install version 1.2 and take it out for a test-drive. As always, your suggestions for improvement are always appreciated, and I hope that you will find this new version useful. Happy editing! --AmiDaniel (talk) 02:05, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Stefan Uroš I

Greetings Andrew. I didn't notice you'd removed the template before. I normally work my way through categories, so I rarely read the edit summaries. If you look at the one of the deleted (copyvio) edits [1] it mentions an operation of mines in (what is now) Montenegro, and a Montenegrin editor (User:CrnaGora) added the article to both Category:History of Montenegro and Category:Rulers of Montenegro. I simply worked my way through these categories. Of cause, Stefan Uroš I was not a ruler of Montenegro per se, but he seems to have been a ruler in what is now Montenegro. However, I'm no fundamentalist on issues such as this, so by all means, please tag the article the way you find most appropriate. In any case, the categories and stub templates should match each other to avoid further confusion. Best regards. Valentinian ^(talk) 12:26, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Valentinian. My fault -- I didn't notice I was creating a conflict between the stubs and the categories. Andrew Dalby 13:09, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Survey on the use of Latinized/Greek names for Byzantine rulers

Hi. There is a survey on the names of Byzantine rulers at Talk:Constantine XI. Maybe you are interested in.--Panairjdde 17:50, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Crusade cycle

Hey Andrew, I saw that you were adding links to Crusade cycle - are you planning on writing that article? I am trying to write one at the moment, I just haven't finished yet, but I don't want to step on your toes! Adam Bishop 18:49, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Adam, I would have done a stub but not a full article. I shall be very happy for you to write it. It's all yours! Thanks for checking. Andrew Dalby 18:55, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Behold, the link is now blue! Adam Bishop 05:30, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Survey on the use of Latinized/Greek names for Byzantine rulers Follow Up

Greetings. As a recent contributor to the survey on the names of Byzantine rulers at Talk:Constantine XI, you may be interested in the following. A mediation sought by Panairjdde resulted in the recommendation that "that proposal two from this page be implemented in the short term, until a consensus can be reached about proposal three". Accordingly, before resuming the editorial process, I am seeking feedback on whether option 2 or 3 of the former survey is more acceptable. Please state (or re-state) your opinion in the follow up survey on Talk:Constantine XI. Thank you for your time, Imladjov 14:19, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Christian of Mainz

The only details I can now provide on Christian's trip to Greece is that he went in 1170 as a representative of the Holy Roman Emperor to Manuel Comnenus. I assume it took him to Constantinople. The original reference in the article to his trip to Greece was a direct translation from the German Wiki's article. I do not know how this embassy from Barbarossa was related to the archbishop's attempts to end the papal schism (or if it was, the German may have been in error). If you find anything our, please add it. Srnec 23:01, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Srnec, I want to know more. Yes, I'll add whatever I find that's useful. Andrew Dalby 11:55, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Manuel of Thessalonica

Hi. I accidentally created a new page for Manuel under his more accurate name Manuel Komnenos Doukas without noticing that you had already created one for Manuel Ducas (the one option that I did not check). I think the informaition in the new article covers everything in the old and goes beyond it. This is why I would like to replace the contents of Manuel Ducas with a redirect to Manuel Komnenos Doukas, but I would like your consent first. Best, Imladjov 01:15, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, do it, Imladjov! You're right, the new article easily replaces the old, which was a mere stub really. Andrew Dalby 06:39, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, will do. Best, Imladjov 06:49, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Notice of arbitration

Hi! I filled an arbitration request concerning the usage of "liberation" in WP articles. If you are interested in, please add your name to the list of the involved parties and type your statement.--AndriyK 20:26, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

How did you do that note?/Where's the Archbishop?

...on the page for Conrad of Montferrat? I wanted to expand it, referring to Choniates (better source on this than Roger), but can't see how to when I went into 'Edit'. Silverwhistle 14:13, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

It's the only way I know how to do them. The text of the note appears embedded in the relevant paragraph, surrounded by ref ... /ref. At the foot of the article you type the single full word, references / (each of these surrounded by angle brackets). Open an edit page for the whole article and you'll see. Does that answer the question?

True, Nicetas has good information including the description of Conrad already quoted in the text. He should be added to the note, I agree. But Roger seems well informed on the Montferrats and includes the detail that Christian was left in Boniface's care. He also lists the three places where Christian was successively held, but since I can't interpret these names I did not include them. Can you? 1. In castello quod vocatur Sanctus Flavianus; 2. in roca Venais; 3. apud Eghependant. All the best Andrew Dalby 15:36, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

San Flaviano, Rocca Venere and Acquapendente. I've added them to Christian's article. There's info on this in Ilgen's biography of Conrad. Silverwhistle 16:50, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Falernian Wine

Thanks for the nice note. Coming from you that means a lot. As you might be able to tell, I love wine and wine history. I look forward to working with you on more articles. Agne27 14:48, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Adding "liberation" to "Words to avoid"

I filled the proposal for Words to avoid. Please find it here. I would be thankfull for your commennts, suggestions and corrections.--AndriyK 16:16, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Agnes of France

I think that's alright...I don't use that template myself, I prefer it if people don't know what I'm watching. I like to surprise vandals! Adam Bishop 23:42, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

fr:Portail:Roumanie

Bonjour, je viens de créer le portail Roumanie. As-tu envie de participer à son élaboration et à son développement? --Defrenrokorit 22:39, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. I don't have a lot of time, but I'll help in any way I can. Andrew Dalby 22:51, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Villehardouin

Why does the English Wiki treat "Villehardouin" as a surname in and of itself? Shouldn't it be "of Villehardouin" or "de Villehardouin"? Geoffrey of Villehardouin has the "of," but his relatives do not. The French Wiki uses "de." I can't understand this, is it common English usage, if so, I've never seen it before. Srnec 02:44, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Srnec, I don't understand it either. I was merely following what others had done before in the case of this particular family. If there is in fact no reason for doing it this way, it would probably be better to change the practice now than to let it spread any further! Andrew Dalby 07:04, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Accepting your point, I have now adjusted the redlinks I made. They now point to Isabella of Villehardouin and Margaret of Villehardouin, Lady of Mategrifon. I will go ahead and make stubs on these two, unless you happened to have articles ready! I have not adjusted the other Villehardouin names, e.g. William II Villehardouin, though they ought to be changed really. Andrew Dalby 17:17, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

The point was also made at Talk:Geoffrey I Villehardouin and another user couldn't understand why the articles were titled as they were. I'll probably go ahead and move them all soon. Srnec 17:23, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm. Should we call Margaret's barony Mategrifon or Akova? Choess 19:58, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

I think it is treated as a surname sometimes, especially when they don't really have a connection to Villehardouin itself anymore. Or, this was my understanding when I created William II Villehardouin a couple of years ago. Adam Bishop 17:02, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I was wondering about that very point; also as regards the Narjot de Toucy pair that I have just written, and that's why I didn't call them "Narjot of Toucy". They are hardly "of" those obscure French places if they never went there. We come back to the insoluble naming questions (as with Byzantium) of which I had quite enough during my many years as a library cataloguer. On the whole, I am happier to leave this to those who are really interested and just try to follow what looks like sensible practice in neighbouring articles! Andrew Dalby 18:49, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Diet in Ancient Greece

Hi Andrew. I wrote some time ago an article about food in Ancient Greece (fr:Alimentation en Grèce antique), which has achieved FA status and was translated here as Diet of Ancient Greece. Unfortunately, I couldn't read your book (I still plan to buy it :-) ). Could you please read one of the two articles and tell us what you think about it? Thanks in advance, Jastrow 15:47, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your help. I will translate your corrections and additions to the French article. I notice that you don't mention Siren feasts in User:Andrew Dalby/Bibliography and I couldn't but wonder... Jastrow 17:43, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, I still agree with everything I said in Siren Feasts (at least, 99% of it)! I just haven't had cause to quote it as yet in editing Wikipedia. That's how mechanical the compilation of User:Andrew Dalby/Bibliography has been. I often see myself as a food historian, but by no means always. Indeed, when I decided on a life ambition (about 30 years ago) it was to be listed in the Dictionary of National Biography with the description "miscellaneous writer". I didn't, 30 years ago, foresee Wikipedia.

Incidentally, I'm still looking at the Diet of Ancient Greece article (which is excellent, by the way! did I say that?) and I may yet add a few more items. Feel free to disagree with me, of course. Andrew Dalby 17:58, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Please do! Btw, do you know of any ancient Greek dish? I found many allusions to products but no mention of something like the "eel à la Alcibiade" or the "Boeotian meat pie". Jastrow 19:22, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Jarcha, Thank you

Hello, Andrew Dalby! Thank you very much for your corrections. I have being editing in this Wikipedia for some time and it is the first time that I receive such a good help. I know that my English is not very good, but I try to do my best, because I hope what I write can be useful. Thank you again. As for the "vulgar latin", you are absolutely right. I didn´t notice that error when I revised the article. See you!--Garcilaso 15:25, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your kind message, Garcilaso. You never know, I might need your help soon if I try to edit the Spanish Wikipedia!

I added a message at Talk:Kharjah (component of muwashshah) about combining the three articles Kharja, Kharjah, Jarcha. I belive they should be combined, and my view was that the heading should be Kharja, but I am not certain, and if you disagree I shall be interested in your thoughts. I agree with you, very strongly, that they should NOT be merged with Muwashshah! Andrew Dalby 18:34, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Of course, you will have my help in Spanish Wikipedia whenever you want! You also have a message in Talk:Kharjah (component of muwashshah). As for the name Kharja or Jarcha, it is an interesting question. When Emilio García Gómez discovered the jarchas together with an Egiptian collegue, they debated that point because they were "inventing" the term. Gómez though that the transcription of the original arab characters should have the most similar sound to the original, and choosed in Spanish "Jarcha", because in Spanish J is a strong sound equivalent to arab. I think that "Kharja" is not the English pronunciation for the arab sound, but the International arab transcription of such sounds. I just don´t know how does the group "Kh" sound in English. The arab sound Ḫāʼ( ﺥ ) is like a very strong English "H". Anyway, it seems that Kharja is widely used. Just do what you think best. ¡Hasta luego!--Garcilaso 12:23, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Move request for emperors of the Palaeologus/Palaiologos dynasty

Hi. There is a move request for several Palaeologus/Palaiologos dynasty emperors at Talk:List of Byzantine Emperors. I tought you might be interested in.--Panairjdde 22:14, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Alexander VIII

Excuseme you're right it:Agnese di Bisanzio.

Wikipedia Italiana Alexander VIII

Metayage

Hey Andrew, I would love to get your thoughts on how to maybe improve the criticism section of the Metayage article. It's taken very heavily from the 1911 encyclopedia and a book by J.Cruveilhier, Étude sur le métayage Paris (1894) and comes across with a sharp POV slant. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Agne27 16:53, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, Agne27, I have to bow out of this one. I feel warm towards the topic, since (to take the first two footnotes) John Crook taught me and I have translated Cato, but warmth doesn't translate into specialist knowledge. Good luck! Andrew Dalby 18:03, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Alexander VIII

Hello Andrew Tanks of your messeg, thankyou of compliments, excuseme of my english, you Know it:Bardas Sclero it:Bardas Foca?

Hello --Alexander VIII 12:33, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Agnes of France (Byzantine Empress)

Thanks Andrew. Very helpful. Wjhonson 17:53, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Byzantine debate

Andrew thanks for your contribution and initiative on the subject. Take care and if you have any further plans on the subject, please let me know and I would be glad to contribute. Dr.K. 23:19, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. I look forward to seeing you in the future. It's been a real pleasure. Don't hesitate to contact me if you think I can contribute in any capacity. Take care for now. Dr.K. 14:00, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

My thanks as well for your excellent contributions, both in this debate and in general. Your contributions are appreciated. Keep up the good work. Valentinian ^(talk) 19:50, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I would agree with the moratorium as long as it returned to the status quo ante whilst this was considered and a decision made later on. As it is this seems a bit contrived since there was no consensus for the initial page moves and yet they took place. As I see it leaving the page moves as they are, albeit for a 9 month moratorium, confirms that decision. IMHO the 9 month moratorium should be used by those in favour of the ODB to prepare their case, as it where, since the onus should be on them to prove that the Komnenos spellings, etc have supplanted the Comnenus ones in general English usage. As far as I can see no-one has established that by any means and yet the pages remain on spellings which do not therefore conform to Wiki policy with regards to using the most popular terms in English. Roydosan 14:35, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Ivanko and Dobromir

Hi! I came across your articles about Ivanko and Dobromir, two of the less known medieval Bulgarian rulers. What puzzles me is the terminology you've used to refer to them: 'leader of the Vlachs and Bulgarians'... the other articles about rulers of the Second Bulgarian Empire (including the earliest) use 'of Bulgaria', which is the established way to refer to them given the name of the realm they ruled over and the specific meaning of the word Vlach then (see Kaloyan of Bulgaria#Disputed origins. Do you insist on the articles being named so, because I'd prefer them being 'of Bulgaria' to conform with all other ones. Todor→Bozhinov 19:59, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your message, Todor. I'm well aware of the political nature of this question: myself, I'm not very political! A novice Wikipedian at the time, I chose these headings (a) because I didn't feel sure that these two fellows were ever monarchs; (b) because the only primary source I knew for them, Niketas Choniates, describes them consistently as Vlachs. I added 'Bulgarians' on my own authority, because we are talking about Bulgaria, I felt it probable that Bulgarians were among their followers, I doubt whether Niketas always bothered to differentiate the two, and I am aware of arguments that Greek writers of this period may have avoided mentioning Bulgarians if they could find an alternative word. However, having looked again at Kaloyan of Bulgaria#Disputed origins, I don't quite see what you mean by "the specific meaning of the word Vlach then". Specificity seems far to seek! Anyway, looking at the matter again now:

In the case of Dobromir, I don't see anything in Niketas to connect him with the Second Bulgarian Empire at all. Perhaps there is some other source I don't know? If there isn't, perhaps "leader of the Vlachs" alone is better since that is the term for which there is evidence?

In the case of Ivanko, yes, he killed Ivan Asen I so he's in the politics of the Empire. Yes, "Ivanko of Bulgaria" would do for him, wouldn't it, since the article can make clear that his known links (such as they are) are said in the original source to be Vlach.

Don't know if that helps. Looking forward to your reply Andrew Dalby 20:47, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Ivanko is fine, but do we have to describe Dobromir that way in the title? The article name Dobromir is free, so we could have the article there, or otherwise disambiguate him as 'Dobromir (medieval leader)', etc., since ethnicity in the Middle Ages (and relying on Byzantine (i.e. foreign) chronologists, who would refer to numerous nationalities as 'Scythians' or 'barbarians' without regard to their origin) is a bit of a problem, and the term 'Vlach' further complicates things (it's true, it's nowhere near specific, don't know what I meant by this, probably that it may have had a different meaning compared to today). Of course, the current way you've chosen to name the article is absolutely OK.

Anyway, I'm not a specialist in the field, but I hope we could come up with some good solution. A user that might be able to help is Ian Mladjov, so I'd suggest that we discuss this with him too. Todor→Bozhinov 21:18, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I really don't want to be awkward. Dobromir alone would be fine. I would also be happy to hear Ian Mladjov's view (I didn't know the I was an Ian!), but please, take the action that you think best and I will not object. Andrew Dalby 08:56, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Saladin

Yeah, those edits were pretty pointless, I just reverted the whole thing. Thanks! We've had the same problem with Baibars lately too. Adam Bishop 15:05, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

19th century material included in Cato the Elder

Hello, Andrew! With respect to the 19th century material included in Cato the Elder, feel free to update any outdated language you could find (or directly, revert my edits). It would be superb to adapt the content of Smith's book into the article, but 1) Cato Major is a renowned celebrity, so he deserves a good article; 2) I lack the time for adding content to the article at a very fast rate. Again, whenever you feel the article a little (or clearly) imbalanced, revert my edits. It is always great to meet somebody interested in Cato. --Pichote 19:42, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your message, Pichote. No, I don't want to revert it. It's good material, though the 19th century English took me aback at first! I'm sure Cato would have approved of some good old-fashioned language, especially in his praise. Getting it all in there, with the references too, was an excellent step. Andrew Dalby 19:51, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Wow, the Andrew Dalby

I'm really excited to see you editing here and would like to extend a belated welcome. Dangerous Tastes was invaluable in working on black pepper (my favorite featured article) and long pepper — the tendency of most sources to conflate the two was maddening. I need to pick up Food in the Ancient World too, since it seems to show up in half the searches I do in Google Books. I hope you do more food work around here! Let me know if you need any help with anything; they were foolish enough to make me a Wikipedia administrator a while back. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 15:26, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India

On 28 July, 2006, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India, which you created. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Thanks for the contribution! It's a pleasure to see you editing around here. Take care -- Samir धर्म 04:39, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah yes, but you're cited in mine, so you get the better end of the symmetry. Colóquios is excellent. (And while I'm here, I might as well ask about a link disambiguation there -- is chapter 46's pepper black pepper exclusively, or does it also include capsicum?) —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 14:40, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I was checking this very point last night. The chapter does include a fourth item, canarim, and I wondered if it was a name for capsicum, but it isn't. It's some local item -- a bark I think -- on which I need to check further. So far as I can see, and disappointingly, Garcia doesn't mention capsicum at all. Thanks for the hint -- I have now disambiguated the pepper link. Andrew Dalby 14:52, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

That's interesting in a dog-that-didn't-bark kind of way. I double-checked and chiles were widespread in and around Goa by then, I think; perhaps it reveals that de Orta knew they were new-world and wasn't interested in writing about new-world species? —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 18:21, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

By chance, do you know where is physically that bust of Cato the Elder?

Hello, Andrew! A short question: would you happen to know the museum/collection where this bust/statue belongs? Maybe the British Museum? (I am deeply intrigued by its source.) Thanks in advance! -- Pichote 20:06, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Pannonian Rusyns/Muslims by nationality/Yugoslavs

Hi, can you help us settle the dispute on TALK:Pannonian Rusyns, TALK:Yugoslavs, and TALK:Muslims by nationality? Thanks. 72.144.150.20 18:31, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for the articles on vida and razo! They're a big help! And thanks for the compliment on the work being done on Trobairitz. If you have any further ideas on how to improve the article, they would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the awesome work, Mak (talk) 16:00, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Also, if you're interested, another article I've been working on is in peer review now. The article is Concerto delle donne, and the peer review is at Wikipedia:Peer review/Concerto delle donne/archive1. I don't know how far outside your field of interest it is, but I'd really appreciate any comments you might have. Mak (talk) 19:54, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Welcome!

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to the Biography WikiProject! As you may have guessed, we're a group of editors working to improve Wikipedia's coverage of biographies.

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If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask another fellow member, and we'll be happy to help you. Again, welcome! We look forward to seeing you around! plange 15:17, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks

and thank you for fixing the entry up. This is my first real foray into editing, so I'm still rather green.

Biography Newsletter August 2006

The August 2006 issue of the Biography WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. plange 01:27, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Lord's late take on dictation

Since you said I whetted your appetite, I'll look up the reference and write you.

Giving lectures

Thank you for the short lecture you gave. As English is not my native tongue every improvement is welcome but will you please re-edit the Iman Wilkens article to how it was before you changed it? (Except for the lecture-bit of course). Regards Antiphus 18:45, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Iman (if you are Iman?), if anything I did was wrong, you can correct it yourself. You don't need me to do it for you! Isn't the Herodoteans a student society? It was when I was a member. Isn't it true about the Four Went Ways? I must admit I haven't read the book (too expensive now!), I rely only on newspaper reports at the time when it was published. Sorry if I was wrong there: I'm sure you know best. Where does the book say that Troy was? It's an interesting detail and it wasn't in the article. Best wishes Andrew Dalby 19:09, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

No I'm not Iman and I don't have any other purpose or reason for editing articles other than contributing to the global effort to find out about our history. I'm shure that the book is not too expensive for you and there must be a library near you but I am really not interested in having this conversation with you as I'm shure you're never going to read the book. I know other people like you; You read a newspaper article about some theory being (as you call it) "crackpot" and immediately you loose interest, afraid of openly showing any curiosity about the theory, scared of not being taken seriously any more by your friends and colleages. Now will you please remove the line? Regards Antiphus 19:33, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Hallo Andrew I edited the line that you put in the article myself because somehow I don't think that you're going to. Was I right about the crackpot- thing I wrote or are you really interested? If so I apologize for my reaction. The location Wilkens gives is the Gog Magog Downs. This theory is not about moving entire countries as sometimes seems to have been claimed watching the unbelief but about migration of the orally transmitted poems and locations being re-named in the Mediterranean; that's not impossible, is it? RegardsAntiphus 19:58, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

That's good, Antiphus. I was only a few miles from the truth, wasn't I? I've never in my life called anyone a crackpot, and all your guesses about me happen to be wrong (even the library)! Keep on editing Wikipedia, and so will I. Best wishes Andrew Dalby 20:10, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi Andrew, Thank you for editing the article (I see now it only improved) and please feel free to make me aware of any grammar or other mistake that I'll make in the future. I'm sorry for the ill-tempered guesses I made about you and if you ever need any lines translated into Dutch or have any questions in that direction don't hesitate to ask. Regards Antiphus 05:25, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank you very much for that, Antiphus. I'm sorry too for mistakenly guessing that you were Iman Wilkens! His theories are really interesting, I think. Andrew Dalby 11:51, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Userboxes/Writing systems

thanks for your comment. Maybe Wikipedia:Userboxes/Writing systems can answwer the ISO conform question. I think the old grk cats still work. Of course they should be moved to Grek. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 13:25, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Tobias, I didn't know about that page till now. Andrew Dalby 19:10, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

the Template:User iso15924 is already quite good. Main missing thing is programming for the categories. If this is done, I will create new cats. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 20:01, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Since Template:User iso15924 has disappeared I've remade my own Template:User tib temporarily. Feel free to replace it again when there is something better! Andrew Dalby 09:30, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

thx for saying thank you :-). Saw you allready added a new script. Fine, so it seems not tooooo hard to edit the stuff. Only the category management via the template is not fully ready yet. Some more if/else coding is needed. But I could not easily figure out how to do it. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 00:10, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

dominic

hello. thanks for straightening out my clumsy addition of jane of aza to the dominic page. i will find out the earlist mention of jane of aza soon and pass that info along to you. i have access to the library of a convent of dominican sisters, so if anyone would know, it would be them. Hongkyongnae 14:59, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

hello again, some quick research turned this up about jane of aza. A castilian preacher named rodrigo de cerrato who had visisted caleruega shortly after 1280 described saint cominic's father as "honorable and rich among the people ofhis village." he goes on to discuss saint dominic's relatives, including jane of aza. my source for this is "Saint Dominic and his Times" by M. H. Vicaire, O.P., translated by Kathleen Pond. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964, p. 403. I hope that is of some help. Hongkyongnae 02:02, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, a useful pointer. I rechecked Vicaire's work, which is indeed fundamental, and have been able to specify the first source for Dominic's parents' family names, as you will see if you look again at Saint Dominic! Andrew Dalby 09:32, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

false link

for me there are two. Arbanass is not mentioned at Albanians page, so this is kind of false here. Can you write something about the Arbanasses? :-) Tobias Conradi (Talk) 19:58, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

A very good point, Tobias! I'll have a serious look at that ... Andrew Dalby 11:19, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Seljuk Turks

I'm not involved in the Turkey WikiProject, so I guess they can do whatever they want, I'm not going to change anything...that guy does have a point, the Seljuks are only marginally connected to modern Turkey, it just bothers me that the English Wikipedia is being used by non-native speakers to push various stupid agenda. Adam Bishop 14:39, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

cats for deletion

need your help at Wikipedia:Categories_for_deletion/Log/2006_August_26#Category:Writing_systems_categories

pschemp just set up something for deletion without talking. Category:User Cyrl-N is heavily populated. But proably all the people in this cat are not aware of the deltion. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 01:41, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

agree with you. We should think about the levels. Currently I try to phase out some few used templates, i.e. I try to replace them with the param template. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 11:59, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

would be nice if you post a keep vote. The main point is that Fooo is not the same as Fooo-5. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 12:01, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

I never proposed the whole category system for deletion, just a merging of the redundant ones if you read carefully. Tobais has taken great offence to this obviously, but having 3 cats for templates that say the same things is silly and redundant. Needless to say, since you suggested merging the templates, it is logical that you would want the categories they create to be merged. pschemp | talk 18:03, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Could you fix your comments on Wikipedia:Categories for deletion/Log/2006 August 26 to reflect your comments on the Templates for deletion? Unless you think the templates should be deleted and the categories that they make should be left, unused and unpopulated. pschemp | talk 19:07, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Talk:Kayah Li

would like your comment at Talk:Kayah Li. Do you think it met WP:CSD#Articles? Tobias Conradi (Talk) 15:45, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Tobias, my apologies for not replying on this before. My impression is that you had very bad luck. I have had it happen to me too, to have an article deleted as I was just about to add something useful to it. The trouble is, the rules say that this may happen. And we know there is a work-round (develop the article on a personal page, then move it into place when it's good enough). It's just that sometimes we go ahead and hope for the best ...

I'm glad they've unblocked you so quickly. Best wishes -- Andrew Dalby 13:10, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

The rules do NOT allow this. WP:CSD A1 explicitly states if there is enough conTEXT the article is not a speedy candidate. But admins repeatedly ignore this and if I ask them to undo their admin right abuses they don't. I am really annoyed that this class of admins can do this. And then I got blocked for moving a talk that I started at User_talk:Chairboy, he replied there and additionally copied the answer to my talk. I replied at both places, but then moved the talk from my page because I thought it is best to have it in the corresponding article talk. Because there it is easier for other users to get involved and also this is to seperate this talk from other talk on my page. I will write about his at User:Tobias Conradi/2006 Kayah Li incident. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 13:26, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, reading through WP:CSD, the matter could have been handled differently. But at the time in question, I think honestly the article did meet the criteria for speedy deletion. That's why I personally think your experience was "very bad luck". What I hope is that it won't discourage you from all the hard work you do on Wikipedia. Andrew Dalby 14:12, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

De l'écluse

Re: your note on my talk page.

I would expect that either the indexing is on the first word in the name, which is "De", or the first meaningful word, which in this case is écluse. (The name "De l'écluse" means "Of the Lock", lock as in canal lock.)

I have been looking for a naming convention, but couldn't find any, so I let my common sense prevail. YMMV, so please revert my change if you feel you need to. --LucVerhelst 21:32, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Oops, I noticed you're French is good, that you even live in France. Hope you don't mind my translation, above. --LucVerhelst 22:11, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia style guide page for this English Wikipedia, quote:

People with multiple-word last names: sorting is done on the entire last name as usually used in English, in normal order and not (for example) according to the Dutch system that puts some words like "van", "vanden", etc... after the rest of the last name. Example: [[Categorie:Nederlands voetballer|Basten van Marco]]; [[Category:A.C. Milan players|Basten, Marco van]] → [[Category:A.C. Milan players|Van Basten, Marco]]

It can hardly be more clearly stated. Notice that the Dutch ordering style is given only for example, for French names one should sort on the entire last name just as well.

I had a lengthy discussion on this topic (for Dutch ordering) two weeks ago, if you are interested on how one may tackle sorting normal/capitalized characters and special characters that do not occur in the alphabet (as in French mainly the apostrophe " ´ " in surnames and the dash " - " in firstnames), see Template talk:FOSS celeb (sections 'Alphabet sort' till 'Analphabetism' included – in particular section Alphabet sort 2 from "One more practical note:" onwards); noteworthy especially for French: best also replace every accented character by its capitalized unaccented letter before sorting (but then show the names properly with small accented letters, of course). — SomeHuman 3 Sep2006 10:08-10:53 (UTC)

Thank you both for your interesting comments. It's a very complicated issue and I shall be happy to let others worry about it -- I'm certainly not going to revert what Luc has done -- but it remains a fact, in most Wikipedia category lists containing French names with de, that the name is alphabetised under the following word, not under the de. In other words, the de is not treated as part of the surname. There are a lot of examples. And the same holds good for nearly every other English reference source containing French names. This is why you find Balzac under B, not under D. I learned this as a library cataloguer, and it remains true.

However -- this is why I draw back from the abyss -- when French names are carried into other languages (e.g. because the family has migrated), the De is thereafter often treated as the beginning of the surname, by the people themselves and by reference sources. Well, of course, Carolus Clusius or Charles de l'Ecluse is not French but Flemish ...

Best wishes to both. Andrew Dalby 12:26, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

I had to think just for a fraction of a second 'Balzac, is that a de Balzac?' before it popped 'Of course, Honoré de Balzac!' – Thus I assume it's like Beethoven: the name is commonly used without a prefix, but one does not say 'Ludwig Beethoven': when the full name is used, we use the prefix. The style guide mentions this exception for Beethoven and for Montesquieu. I think on Wikipedia then, you might also order Balzac under B. (at least if in English, his name is most often shortened as such; a good rule of the thumb might be what I tried to show here: check whether a link under the shortened name ends up at the right person, if so it may not be sufficient proof, but if not so it is surely best to use normal style guide ordering). Logically, as a library cataloguer, you encountered more often such names or those of nobility (as a title and not really a name), than one would in name lists of lesser-known people, so it makes a lot of sense to put books and filing cards to those is the order of the most commonly used name. I do not know whether the lists you had found in this Wikipedia correspond to this kind of names; it was hard to find the style guide (Luc, you, and I had missed it even when looking for it, fortunately someone else pointed it out to me) and thus most lists in this encyclopedia will have been created without knowing about the guideline; an editor probably copied the style of other lists found (possibly with names like Balzac, Montesquieu, ...) and so on for later editors... But as you have indicated, for the English language Wikipedia we should best follow its style guide.

Thank you also for pointing out that Charles de l'Ecluse is taken to have been Flemish. I had encountered the name before, though only because before I created my username, I did something on external links for the article on probably the most famous scientist of my home city, Rembert Dodoens. I had assumed the translator of the 1554 Cruydeboeck to have been French. A quick glance at the latter's article shows Charles de l'Ecluse to have been more than just a translator, I'm going to read it more carefully now. Kind regards. — SomeHuman 3 Sep2006 23:51 (UTC)

fourwentways

fourwentways on internet: http://www.shelford.org/walk8.htm Regards, Antiphus 10:25, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Salve!

Iustinus Andreae salutem plurimam!

I was just googling the Latin wikipedia, looking for articles in which you were cited (because I wanted to cite you in the same format at bivaliva. Imagine my surprise when it pulled up your user page. It seems you made several contributions during my "leave of absense." It's great to see you working so closely with us! --Iustinus 06:33, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Biography Newsletter September 2006

The September 2006 issue of the Biography WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. plange 00:13, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Parry, Lord, and other

Hi Andrew. I don't have time these days to log on much so didn't see your comment on my talk page (about the "Homeric scholarship" article) until just now. Thanks for your comments there. I've posted a couple more replies on the article's discussion page, but mostly just to re-state what I think; I'll leave it there, I think.

By the way, you mentioned on my talk page your aim of "humbly and fearfully, steer[ing] all who disagree back to the texts of Parry and Lord"; oddly enough, the more I study Homer, the more I find myself being steered back towards 19th and early 20th century philology, and towards contemporary figures like Kullmann and West (even if West is wrong half the time, which he is), when I'm not reading the oldies like Lachmann. Strange but true. I wonder what that says about me. (I like to think of it as a kind of progression from my discovery of Eustathius some years ago.) Ah well. All the best, Petrouchka 09:00, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Re: Gallica

Thanks! Yes, the Gallica Rolls are good... Though I don't think they've got vol. 3 of Roger H. It wasn't up last time I looked. Silverwhistle 19:29, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

cato and plutarch

Cutting the flattery to a minimum: your work has proved invaluable on several occasions, and you were the only person I could think of who might know the answer to the question I am about to pose. I was wondering...Plutarch mentions of Cato in his life (1): "On active service, he drank nothing but water, except that occasionally when he was parched with thirst he would ask for vinegar, or when his strength was exhausted add a little wine." I wonder what else there would have been on active duty. Surely an army wouldn't have taken beer, it having far too little alcohol by volume. Would they have had juice? Milk? I appreciate your time, thanks in advance. --Josh Rocchio 15:31, 2 October 2006 (UTC), at locus melior quo me petiturus sis Ioshus ^(disp)...

Thanks alot. I will share your response at class tomorrow night. I was not the only one who wondered. That's what it seemed like to me, they would take more concentrated liquids like wine and vinegar and forage for water as they marched. As a followup, what provinces would have been most likely to have beer in abundantia? I assume certainly the northern gauls/germans would have, but who else? Thanks again.--Josh Rocchio 21:19, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

It is ambiguous, unfortunately where in Africa Cato fought. His own records are scant and exaggeratory, Plutarch's are also exaggeratory, Livy seems to know nothing about the man if you cosider the fact that he writes in the Lex Oppia episode book XXXVI (eng) that Cato's senatorial opponent quote from the Origines roughly 40 years before the Origines themselves were published, and Nepos cares more that Cato brought back Ennius than anything else. I will ask, at the same aforementioned class meeting, tomorrow, if anyone knows better where exactly he fought. It is purported, again by Plutarch, that he conquered more cities in Spain than days he spent there. He would have been in Northern Africa certainly, but not as far east as Egypt.

As far as interwikie links go, anything with a foreign syntax ie [[:xyz:blahblah]] and [http://whatever.pqr yaddayadda] (view source, I inserted <nowiki> in before the links) provided that xyz=a legitimate interwiki language code, and pqr=a valid internet suffix, will show up as blue. It is unfortunate software isn't intelligent enough to search interwiki/www to see if the page does exist. The interwiki links already show up as a slightly different shade of blue, there'es no reason that invalid pages can't show up a slightly different shade of red. One of these days... Thanks, again, Andrew.--Josh Rocchio 23:19, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Olá, Andrew!

Encontrei o link para tua página na Wikipedia em Occitano. Conheces alguma coisa daquele idioma? Eu contribuo para a oc:wiki com artigos simples, porém conheço pouco (quase nada) da língua. Podes me ajudar a revisar alguns artigos? Cumprimentos de São Paulo, Brasil João Xavier M.Santos 2a. feira, 02 de outubro de 2006.

Troy

Hello Andrew. I was glad to see you oppose to this request. Of course I'll vote against it. Could you please tell me how to go about this? Regards Antiphus 19:07, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

A Dance to the Music of Time

Good idea to add three of the most memorable characters to the list. I have taken the liberty of filling in the Key/Sources column for each, though perhaps you can improve on these. Such wonderful books . . . Balliol 22:44, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

No problem

I hope this is the right spot, if not, delete it.

I am not put of by this at all. I just remember my prof (and my notes) stating otherweise. My prof had said O. was on Calypso's island for 10 years and then he left. Perhaps I copied it down wrong or perhaps she was wrong. I would have consulted my book, but it was at school. I was just leaving the Odyssey to you guys. The last comment I will add is that a better word could be found than circa. Good luck. UAAC 03:16, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Troy AfD

Hi. You seemed unfamiliar with the term "meat puppet" on the AfD. From WP:SOCK,

It is considered highly inappropriate or unacceptable to advertise Wikipedia articles that are being debated in order to attract users with known views and bias, in order to strengthen one side of a debate.

Just to let you know. What sparked off the suspicion of meat puppetry is that support and oppose are not used in AfDs. They are generally used for RfAs and straw polls. XfDs generally use language like keep, delete, etc. --Storkk 14:42, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Snodgrass

Well, those copyvio plagiaristic bio stubs pop up in the funniest of places. They're taken from the various Gale encyclopedias. I assume they are correct, but nothing I saw on the interweb listed AMS's place of birth. Who knows ? Perhaps we should email him and ask. Angus McLellan (Talk) 18:39, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Dance: Jean Templer

Thanks for your note. I like your description of Jean Templer, "Unpredictable and self-absorbed, unexpected taste in men". I think it applies to nearly all the women I know. Andrew Dalby 23:13, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

• What an exciting life you must lead, Andrew! Powell manages his treatment of Jean rather well, I think, allowing us to reach our own conclusions about her without hammering her conflicting characteristics home. Interestingly male and female readers often seem to reach quite different conclusions about Jean. - Balliol 21:19, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Geography of the Odyssey

Hi Andrew. Hope your work on Geography of the Odyssey is going well. Did you want me to sort through the material on ancient traditions about the topic that I mentioned, or would you prefer to handle the whole topic yourself? Just a warning: I won't be able to do anything on it for at least 12 hours. Petrouchka 19:19, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi Andrew ang thanks for the invitation. It will be a pleasure for me to contribute to any Homeric material. I have already added some relevant reference by Strabo and Plutarch in Scheria and Ogygia. Perhaps this reference might also be appropriate in the Geography of Odysseus' narrative.--Odysses (☜) 17:44, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi again Andrew. Yup, I'll be on that and should have something up tomorrow. Petrouchka 20:26, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

On your recent changes to the modern treatments: I like your treatment of Wilkens. The number of websites Wilkens himself has created tend to suggest the idea that there's a flavour-of-the-month-ness about it, and I'm not sure what the best way to react to that is. I guess this is one of those "whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must put it in a footnote" situations. Petrouchka 22:45, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Hello

Hey, I made some changes to the "My Name is Red" talk page, and am giving you a heads up. Not sure what the proper protocol here is?

A somewhat funny note--when I met Pamuk a few years ago, he had given a talk in which he made some quip along the lines of "'My Name is Red' is my first book that people say the translation is better than the original, and I don't know how I feel about that!" (Pamuk is rather funny).

I wasn't nearly so big a fan of Kars, but I'm far more drawn to the middle periods than recent. You might want to check out Kara Kitap / The Black Book if you're more interested in the contemporary period.

-Scott

It's very kind of you to let me know. We could well quote Pamuk's own words if you feel quite sure of them (it would surely please the translator!) Yes, in view of what you say (here and at Talk:My Name is Red, I will certainly reinsert those details. I'll do it later today. Andrew Dalby 08:18, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

chocolate

I see you're pretty active, this evening, so maybe I'll catch you. Could you take a look at la:Vicipaedia:Taberna#Chocolate? We would appreciate it.--Josh Rocchio 22:30, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Sillery

Two questions about Sillery and his world:

• Quiggin calls him "Professor Sillery" (p. 175 of A Question ...) but in the next line Sillery makes "a deprecatory gesture in our direction to suggest his own unworthiness of this style of address". In other words, he isn't a professor, and only someone from a different planet (that's how Quiggin is portrayed in this episode, more or less) would address him as such. Am I right there? Or is he called Professor somewhere else as well?
• Is it Oxford, or just "the university"? When I read the books, I imagined it as Cambridge, but that's probably because I went there. Is Oxford named? Andrew Dalby 13:14, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Good questions which I have put to the experts on the AP discussion list. My own assumption was that Sillery either held a minor chair or was a professor emeritus still accorded the title, like say, Prof. Jonanthan Riley-Smith at Cambridge today. From memory Spurling (in her Handbook/Invitation to the Dance) is silent on Sillery's precise status. He is said not to publish research.

It is indeed Oxford, where AP was up at, ahem, Balliol, but like Eton it is not named. Internal evidence (eg the motor accident) and AP's journals support this. Which is not to say that nothing has been drawn from Cambridge though. -- Balliol 14:18, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

In response to your queries the scholars on the Powell discussion list observe that while Sillery is nowhere else described by the author as "professor", Sillers adopts an equally self-deprecating attitude when granted a peerage. However Dr Clarke from Canberra University raises two questions:

1. Is it likely that Sillers could have got a chair on the strength of one book, even at Oxford in the 1920s?

2. How would an Oxbridge undergraduate in those days have addressed a professor at an informal gathering?

Nonetheless Spurling (who appears to have cleared her material with Powell) does list him as "Professor Sillery" in her 'Handbook/Invitation to the Dance'

Dr Clarke adds that Quiggin's "faux pas is probably due to the much wider application of the title in the United States (Associate Professor, Adjunct Professor, Lulubelle Z. Furtwangler Professor, etc., etc.) than at Oxbridge. He naturally assumes from past experience that anybody of Sillery's position and influence would have professorial status."

While Oxford, like Eton, is not named in the text Rhodes scholars are.

--- Balliol 21:59, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Geography of the Odyssey

October 2006 (UTC)

Hi Andrew, I hope you've seen my additions to Geography of the Odyssey. Were they any helpful?

Thanks,--Odysses (☜) 12:20, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, thanks, Odysses, very useful. I hope you don't mind I took out your statement of Odysseus' age (in Odyssey) because I don't think the Odyssey states his age. If I'm wrong, put it back in with a reference. Andrew Dalby 12:18, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Andrew, thanks for your feedback

Maybe there isn't in any reference in Odyssey, but there are some hints in Iliad. The Trojan War started 10 years after the abduction of Helen. The Mythical chronology of Greece gives some dates, but probably, not reliable.

Sillery's chair

It has just been pointed out to me that in the Album edited by Powell's wife, Lady Violet, there appears on page 40 the following editorial entry:

'Professor Sillery, a bachelor don in his fifties, likes young men but most of all he likes power, the power that comes through hidden contacts and intrigues.'

It seems that the author had indeed awarded Sillers a chair.

Balliol 22:28, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Seutonius

I am editing "The Twelve Caesars." How exactly do you think the entry should be changed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.164.157.221 (talk • contribs)

Thanks for your edits, which are adding a lot of interesting material.

One problem is spelling. The author's name, for example, is often misspelt in various ways in the article, and this looks bad. The correct spelling is Suetonius -- but you notice that you have written it differently above.

Another problem for me is that the outlines are just like a short biography of each emperor. If I want the biography, I would read the article on the Emperor concerned, or else I would read the whole text of Suetonius. I would expect a good encyclopedia article about The Twelve Caesars to tell me how many sources and what kind of source materials Suetonius cites, maybe listing them; how he organizes his material on each emperor; how his information compares with other major sources available to us; whether his view of each emperor seems biased, and in what direction, and why; whether there is a significant difference between the way he treats Julius Caesar and the way he treats Domitian (for example), and if there may be a reason for that.

I'm not saying one person has to do all this -- it takes a lot of people to make a good Wikipedia article -- but I think at present there is too much simple biography in the summaries, and I suspect they will get shortened again, by someone else if not by me.

Incidentally, would you think it a good idea to get a username and sign in before editing? You don't have to, but it makes it easier to work with others on improving Wikipedia. Andrew Dalby 14:30, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

James George Scott

Thank you so much for your contributions, and nice to see you in the Burma Project! The Bogyoke market cite is in that article. Chris 22:19, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

ps-do you have Burmese script? There are all sorts of articles that need it.

pps-found something here Journalists Beware Vol 9. No. 7, August-September 2001 you need to see.

"According to a high-ranking Burmese official, who is now based in a Western country, the military regime is impressed with some foreign journalists and their stories on Burma. The Burmese official reportedly confided to a guest, "We like Roger Mitton, Stephen Brookes and Martin Smith. Their writings are fair and well-balanced."

Roger Mitton, who now writes for Asiaweek magazine, is frequently criticized for writing stories that are seen to be pro-junta, and has lately been predicting a historic political agreement between the military junta and NLD leaders. His recent know-it-all stories have raised eyebrows among Burmese and Burma watchers, and stirred strong feelings.

Many serious Burmese watchers question Mitton’s understanding of Burma and his analysis of the current situation. Donald M. Seekins, a professor of Burmese history at Meio University in Japan, said recently, "Mitton has been advertising for the junta."

Inside Burma, respected journalists and writers who have seen Mitton’s pieces joke about his stories. "Mitton seems to have a spy network everywhere in Burma," quipped U Sein Win. "He is a laughing stock among us—if you are bored with politics in Burma, you will be amused (reading Mitton’s stories). His inside stories are very entertaining," the respected journalist in Rangoon said.

But junta officials appear to be pleased with his "entertaining stories." Mitton has been allowed in and out of Burma many times, and some high-ranking officials, including the junta’s powerful Secretary One Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, have given him exclusive interviews.

Martin Smith, who has written several reports and books on Burma, was also allowed into the country recently. However, his reputation is still largely intact, as he has long been highly regarded as an authority on Burma. Stephen Brookes, who used to work for the defunct Asia Times newspaper and was the only foreign journalist with regular access to Rangoon for several years, has less impressive Burma credentials. His stance is clear: The evils are not so bad. Brookes’ articles sometimes appear in The Myanmar Times, edited by Ross Dunkley, an Australian now based in Rangoon. Dunkley is also dependent on the junta’s favour, without which it would be totally impossible to run a newspaper in Rangoon.

Lintner thinks the military intelligence must have discovered that Mitton knows nothing about Burma, and therefore decided that he would be easy to manipulate. "Neither Mitton’s nor Smith’s reports are objective and fair. Mitton’s reports reflect his ignorance and are simply bad journalism," said Lintner. The Swedish journalist thinks that Mitton’s failure to do his homework has backfired badly, leaving his reputation in tatters. He adds that Mitton’s credibility among diplomats and serious journalists is zero."

Could he be a relative of Geraldine, since she was raised there, and wouldn't it be weird that such a lineage would be a shill for SLORC? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kintetsubuffalo (talk • contribs) 20:41, 10 December 2006 (UTC).

Adèle de France / Spouse of Guillaume II de Ponthieu

Dear Andrew,

I found a discrepancy on what you wrote about Adèle de France. In the Tome 1, page 77 of Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, published in 1725 by P. Anselme, you can find the following children from Louis VII.

x 08/1137 with Aliénor d'Aquitaine

 - Marie
 - Alix

x 1154, Orléans with Constance de Castille (+1160)

 - Marguerite
 - Alix (°1160, who died few time after her mother)

x end of 1160 with Alex de Champagne

 - Philippe II, Roi de France dit Auguste
 - Alix (which is the one who was promised to Richard Coeur de Lion) & married to
 - Agnes

You can find a scanned copy of this old genealogy book on my web_site

http://www.gawlik.fr/for_andrew/

The version on Adèle de France published on 22/4 was more correct than the actual one I think.

You can send me mails to share your views to matg01@yahoo.fr

Regards

Matthieu

Dear Mathieu

Thank you very much for your message. I was wondering what was the origin of the idea that Adèle de France was born in 1170 -- an idea that was widespread on Wikipedia 6 months ago -- and now, thanks to you, I know! So it was Anthelme, in 1725, who published this opinion.

But it is often the case that 18th century historians made mistakes that later historians have been able to correct. In this case, Anthelme is wrong. I am certain, for two reasons.

1. The original agreement to marry Adèle to Richard was made in 1169. Admittedly it is not impossible for such an agreement to be made, in principle, before a child is born, but there is another reason also:

2. In 1174, as is stated in the Wikipedia article (and I have checked the documents for this) "le pape Alexandre III intervint pour le sommer [le = Henri II d'Angleterre], sous peine d'excommunication, de procéder au mariage convenu". If the girl was only 4 years old, this is impossible! A marriage would have been uncanonical! But if she was 14 years old, this would be normal, especially if there were rumours that Henri II was making the girl his own mistress instead of marrying her to his son.

The documents are printed in full in the big biography of Philippe Auguste (Alexander Cartellieri, /Philipp II. August, König von Frankreich/. 4 vols. Leipzig, 1899 sqq.)

I think it would be a good idea to add a note to the "Adèle de France" article mentioning Anthelme's opinion, because I am sure other people, too, will find it and wonder if it is true. But, as I say, I am sure it is wrong.

With best wishes

Andrew

I have just seen that the date at which the pope threatened to excommunicate Henry II if he did not immediately marry Adèle to Richard is 1177, not 1174. I had failed to correct this on the French Wikipedia, though I corrected it on the English one. I have changed it now.

The argument remains the same. It still shows that Adèle was born long before 1170: she could not be married at 7 years old, but she definitely ought to be married (and not kept as Henry II's mistress) if she was 17 years old.

Andrew [[[User:Andrew Dalby|And]]rew Dalby 13:52, 2 November 2006 (UTC)]

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lynn Coulter

Hi. You looked at this author's article when I asked for help on the WikiProject Books talk page. I've listed this article now at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lynn Coulter. The author has made some edits to further establish her notability; I think it's still borderline at best, but others may disagree.

Once again some objective third parties with a good feel for what constitutes author notability would be helpful in sizing this one up given the recent changes. If you get the chance, would you take a look? (Although I've nominated the article for "delete", I welcome a reasoned "keep" opinion is just as much as a "delete".) --A. B. 18:05, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Talk:Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion

Hi! Really sorry for having taken me so long to respond. The article looks significantly better after your edits — all the references make it look authoritative indeed. As for the title, we should use the one that is most popular in English. If it really is this one, then it's OK (it's certainly not popular in Bulgaria, where it's called the "Rebellion of Asen and Peter"). I'd be happy to provide further help, so don't hesitate to leave a message :) Todor→Bozhinov 11:27, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Possible Copyright Violations: A Request

Andrew, I was wondering if you can kindly comment on the external referenced links (like this one) being used on the Sathya Sai Baba article. Are these exteral referenced links in violation of Linking To Copyrighted Works? The reason why this Geocities site was created in the first place (agreed to in Mediation by both parties) was to prevent linking to partison, biased and controversial sites that have these media articles published on them. JzG expressed the opinion that citing these sources on any non-reputable website is a copyright violation [2] [3] [4]. What is your opinion? Thanks. SSS108 ^talk-email 02:48, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

What does reputability have to do with copyright violations? Nothing, thats what. Wjhonson 02:52, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't think I can help much, because (1) the problem raised is a byway of US law unlikely to apply in most other countries, and I don't know US law (2) the example of this legal issue cited at the section Linking To Copyrighted Works is a redlink. Morally, however, I would agree with the rule stated in that section: it's a bad idea to link to a page which you know or strongly suspect to be breaching copyright. That looks as though it may be the case with the page you show me. Andrew Dalby 13:17, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Wjhonson, if the material was published on a reputable media site, then it could be linked to. That was the point made by JzG. Otherwise, he considered it an offsite copyright violation. Thank you for your opinion, Andrew. Sincerely, SSS108 ^talk-email 20:41, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Sao Saimong

I noticed that you put in an article for Sao Saimong. That was nice of you. One minor quibble, he was allowed to visit Kengtung after his release from detention. In fact, in 1969, a year after his release, he became an ordained monk in one of the Kengtung monasteries for a period of time.

Sao Khai Mong khai@mangrai.com

Thank you so much for that correction. Of course I was writing mostly from memory, so I could well have made errors. Please feel free to edit and improve the article! Andrew Dalby 18:15, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

RE:List of troubadours

I am not harcore about such things. Since you are more familiar with naming conventions of that period, I won't oppose any revert you make, as long as you make a note explaining that in the edit box (and not something like "reverting vandalism" or "reverting somebody who doesn't know what they are talking about"). It seems to me that there would probably be a mix of "surnames" and given names that would be given alphabetical priority. But the fact that surnames them weren't really surnames could make sense, and honestly I don't know much about the topic to have much of an opinion. But to reitierate, whatever you, or other working on such topics, decide, I won't oppose.--Esprit15d (talk ¤ contribs) 15:31, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Lallemantia

I've done a bit of cleanup on your lallemantia iberica article. Fascinating stuff! (I added a separate article on lallemantia oil.) It got me thinking about other "paleobotanicals" - the use of grain amaranth as a staple food in the Mayan empire, quinoain the Andes, and even Khorasan wheat] in ancient Iran. Sticking closer to oils, there's also balanos oil, which was apparently used in the ancient world as a highly valued perfume base oil. There's also false flax oil, which was widely used as a lamp oil through the 18th century.

It seems to me that there's a decent article to be written in there somewhere. It's very well documented that the world's food supply has become highly focused on just a few species in the last 40 years (e.g. 40-50% of all calories from three plant species). What was the situation like when the world was at the other extreme of food supply diversity and economic development? I think it'd be fascinating to take a look at the world of "economic plants", staple crops, or food plants in general in past millenia. Any thoughts? Waitak 08:06, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Medieval cuisine up for peer review

Greetings and all that!

I'm working on getting the article up to FA-standards and your input would be much appreciated. Don't be shy now. Any and all comments (or criticisms) are beneficial.

Peter ^Isotalo 10:50, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Languages

Wow Andrew, you speak a lot of languages! 13! Did you study them, or did you learn them by living in the countries that speak them for a while? | AndonicO ^{Talk | Sign Here} 12:14, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Dionysus

Hi, I did away with the annoying note format in the Dionysus article, I hope you will not mind. Also, you would not by any chance have an uploadable picture of the Dionysus and Ampelos group in the British Museum, would you? Hans Licht refers to it in his work on ancient Greek sexuality. Regards, Haiduc 01:35, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

French basque < Gascon basco???

Andrew, if you can you throw any light on the question about Gascon basco I have posed on Talk:Basque people, I'd appreciate it. Alan --A R King 20:14, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Omelas, the viscounty

I've been spelling it Aumelàs (see, for instance Ferdinand of Majorca). Do you know which is preferred? (Although now that I look, the French version doesn't use the diacritic, so that's probably erroneous.) Choess 16:50, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Ha! I knew I should have checked that link to Omelas. It seems that Aumelas (without the diacritic) currently deserves our vote: see this page [5] which looks official; all other pages high on Google similarly spell it without the grave accent. I will rename my gentleman accordingly. Thanks! Andrew Dalby 17:10, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

fr:Archestratos

Thank you for identifying Chrysippus. But what do you mean by "l'inventeur de préceptes gastronomiques" ? I know nothing about Terpsion, whom you say is not a writer - it's just that the sentence sounds strange in French. Cordialement, Mu 20:32, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

The sentence now looks perfect - ça, c'est du bon boulot! :-) Mu 17:16, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Lords of Baux

I've just made a big change over there (see talk page); "Line 1" as it stood went off on a bizarre tangent, so I've replaced that with the proper one, the Counts of Avellino and Lords of Baux. Apropos of which, can you recommend a good history of the Kingdom of Sicily/Naples under the Angevins? All the general histories I've found are more interested in the cities of the north than the Regno, and I'd like a firm basis for writing about the figures of the time, particularly Joan I of Naples and the colorful notables of her unhappy reign. Choess 01:52, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Wilkens' sources

Hello Andrew, I don't know if the you-know-which WP-article is (still) on your watchlist but I would just like you to know that I've added the main sources mentioned in the book, and a review I found on internet, regards, --Antiphus 14:34, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Johannes de Garlandia

Hi, Andrew. Would you mind taking a look here?--Ioshus^(talk) 16:07, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

David Downie

The article is much improved. Good work cleaning up the tone. - AKeen 16:47, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Hey!

I read your book on byzantine cuisine, a great read!

A request concerning Aristophanes' Clouds and dactyls

Hi, I noticed You on polish Wiki (where I work mainly), and as You were the only one with a good knowledge of (anc.) greek, I write to You. Please look at Finger (gesture). It reads - in Origin section - that this gesture was known already in ancient Greece, and cites Clouds as the first known literary source of that. The only place, where it could fit, is between verses 650 and 660, when Socrates asks Strepsiades if he knows about dactyls, and the latter answers - well, what he answers, depends on translation, but:

• two polish translations don't mention it (the gesture), or make it unconnected with - explicit - showing the middle finder only;
• the same thing here: [6] (Strep. What else but this finger? Formerly, indeed, when I was yet a boy, this here!);
• it exists in this translation, however it is not explained if it's genuine, or the paraphrase.

So, can You look at the ancient greek text of the Clouds and just check it, or better, translate those verses?

Thanks, Szpawq 02:07, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm travelling right now. Yes, as soon as I get back home, on 29 December or thereabouts, I'll have a look. Interesting question! Andrew Dalby 10:44, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Redirection

Hi Andrew, Happy new year. I'm sorry about the redirection; won't do it again. I'll see what I can find concerning Théophile Cailleux, --Antiphus 08:22, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Liverpool

Iustinus Andreae spd,

Quattuor figuras Latinas nominis Liverpool cognosco, nempe: Liverpolium, Liverpolis, Liverpula, Liverpalus (-udis). Quoniam tu "Liverpudlianus" es ipse natu, velim scire numquid censeas. Quod nomen praeferendum? Suntne fortasse inscriptiones indigines tibi notae? Vale, 03:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Bona quaestio, Iustine; sed responsum non habeo. Quando me faciunt doctorem h. c. universitatis Cantabrigiensis (!!), eo tempore sciemus: sine dubio Orator universitatis inveniet verbum iustum (Francice le mot juste) ... Andrew Dalby 09:28, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Nescivi ita futurum esse. Tibi gratulor! Qui dies constitutus est? --Iustinus 02:30, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Numquam! (Moral: don't joke on Wikipedia, even in Latin ...) Andrew Dalby 09:16, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Necesse erat sciam hoc graecis kalendis fore! --Iustinus 15:35, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Equidem videtur Ecclesia Catholica saltem sat fixe Dioecesin nominare "Liverpolitanam" --Iustinus 05:02, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

proposed rename of Wikipedia:WikiProject Burma/Myanmar

A new user has proposed the rename of our project. I intentionally used both names so that all views would be represented. But I would like your thoughts as to which name we should choose, Burma or Myanmar, or leave it like it is. Please share your thoughts, thank you. Chris 19:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Will you please help watch Wikipedia:WikiProject Myanmar (Burma)/Members? Our persistent vandal is at it. Chris 10:38, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Mediation for naming of Wikiproject Burma/Myanmar

A request for mediation has been filed with the Mediation Committee that lists you as a party. The Mediation Committee requires that all parties listed in a mediation must be notified of the mediation. Please review the request at Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Wikipedia:WikiProject Burma/Myanmar, and indicate whether you agree or refuse to mediate. If you are unfamiliar with mediation, please refer to Wikipedia:Mediation. There are only seven days for everyone to agree, so please check as soon as possible. --Hintha 06:36, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Petrarch articles

Thank you so much for noticing and starting the new article on De Viris Illustribus. I will in fact be adding to this, so be sure to keep a watch on it. I like your wording for the heading, which is a great improvement from my writing. In my future additions and amplification, please make any improvements you feel are appropriate. Also go ahead and drop me a note, if you have any more of those excellent hints. For all this outstanding help you have given me, I will let you in on some of my theories about Petrarch. Some will definitely be controversial. However with your extensive background of ancient history and your extensive knowledge of the many languages, then if anyone can understand what I am saying it will be you.

• Petrarch wrote some items that are well known to the world that have been written in a code. For lack of a better name I refer to this as The Petrarch Code. Some of these items are so controversial that when others hear of my theories then there is much said. I have talked some of this on Wikipedia and recently they have all but closed me out. I suspect they soon will. The material is so controversial that you would think I was talking of something much worse than the most gross material you have ever heard of (i.e. dirty language, dirty pictures, religious concepts, etc), however all I am taking of is finding coded literature. It is all quite clean and above board. I am just a simple retiree with a hobby.
• Petrarch wrote several other lists of De Viris Illustrious that are known under other names (i.e. "pen names"). This is even more controversial. There are several that are watching me quite close on Wikipedia, so if you would like to send me an e-mail for details on this I will gladly furnish any details. You will understand what I am saying with your extensive knowledge of ancient history. I suspect I have only a few more days and they will shut down my material all together. I have been pre-warned about this already by several Admisnistrators of Wikipedia. I doubt if they will let me continue till the end of the month. Even this simple list of Lives was removed, basically because of my input. It was put there to see how long it was going to stay there, however I was surprised it was pulled this quick. I thought it would last a week or so. Notice that all it was, was a list of names all of which Wikipedia has information on. That's why I linked everyone of them, to show I was not in fact just making up this information. Obviously you know of this list. I won't be adding anything to your new article for a few months, until I can see if this will stay since you put it as a new article. Anything I might add now will be removed (guaranteed!), so I will hold off for now.
• Petrarch wrote his grand epic poem written in hexameters. Recently I asked what hexameters was on Wikipedia. It was explained further to me, so now I have a much better idea what it is. I have read (somewhat) this book of Africa. It is of one great commander for Italy called Scipio Cornelius. Now read this and you will see what I mean of that which is controversial. All of Petrarch's other list of Lives (in code) have in common the idea that they all start with the first rulers of some Empire, Dynasty, or Country. They also have in common that all the information came from the ancient historians Livy and Polybius. (Apparently Petrarch studied them much). They have other "themes" as well.
• Jerome has a list of 134 Lives called De Viris Illustribus. Each "Christian author" has his own Chapter. Chapter 135 is of Jerome himself saying what he wrote, so therefore there are 134 Lives. (FYI: I am not a religious person. Have no bias one way or they other). Chapter 66 is of one Cornelius, a bishop for Rome. With your extensive knowledge of ancient people, I'll bet you don't know most of these "Christians". One Cornelius is a most significant person to Petrarch, since he wrote about him in his most significant work (of which he was crowned poet laureate for). The number 66 is most significant, since it is the number of books in the Bible. How many letters does Liber Sine Nomine consist of?

• Acts of the Apostles has in Chapter 1 (verse 3) the number 40. Add 40 to 66 and you get 106, which just happens to be the number On Famous Women Boccaccio did (which was influenced by Petrarch). Acts has 28 chapters. Now add 28 to 106 and you get 134 = the amount of Lives in Jerome's list. At this point in time I don't dare say anything more. I'll see if this gets to you if you send me an e-mail or respond here. I doubt very much it will be allowed for you to see! Unless they are not paying attention to your name at this time.

For your information my background is in hardware electronics and real estate speculation. In other words, about as far from ancient history and religion as you could get. I am not even a good writer, as you can see. So I could not have made all this up, since it takes the advanced encyclopedic knowledge that only Petrarch had. --Doug 20:46, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Doug, it's kind of you to explain this to me, but I don't really go for secret codes and hidden numbers. Best of luck, however. Andrew Dalby 23:21, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Appreciate your answer. If you see any improvements that you feel should be done in the future on De Viris Illustribus, feel free to make them. I'm sure whatever you do will be an improvement of my work. As you already know there are 19 letters to Liber Sine Nomine. Interestingly there are also 19 letters to "Volume Without A Title" (just count them). This just happens to look a lot like the English name for this book called: Book Without A Name. These words of "volume without a title" are in Jerome's Chapter 80. This Chapter also just happens to speak of a young man in "Africa" (perhaps in the mid thirties) that wrote a poem in hexameters. Also as you already know Liber Sine Nomine is a epitome of Epistolae Familiares. I will not say there are 19 New Testament books mentioned here; however they all just happen to have the same number of letters and the same vowels. Please make any improvements to my work you may see in the future since you are a much better writer than I am. I would really appreciate it. Thanks! --Doug 00:43, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. Carthage (which still has 8 letters) is of Greek roots and as you know has a lack of people (of 6 letters) to this day since it is in ruins (as it was in Petrarch's time).
Firmianus has 9 letters. Lactantius has 10 letters. Epistolae has 9 letters. Familiares has 10 letters. I'll just throw this out and if you want any details I will furnish: Acts of the Apostles is a list of 28 moral biographies that Petrarch wrote. They start with the first Persian ruler, Cyrus the Great. Chapter 1 is of him and the Cyrus Cylinder, which just happens to have 40 lines. Then it goes into the first great Macedonian ruler, Philip II of Macedon, then to Alexander the Great. Chapter 9 is of Appius Claudius Caecus, while Chapter 10 is Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major. I have all 28 names. Petrarch refers to this as: "Chronicle of Universay History of 28 homilies". It so happens it is chronicle, since it goes in reverse chronological order. Also it just so happens the way it is written they are all connected in some sort of relationship (some a direct blood line, but not always). Petrarch has another De Viris Illustrius that starts with Adam. Boccaccio's list On Famous Women starts with the first woman of the Bible. Boccaccio also has a list that starts with Adam and Eve. --Doug 00:43, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Request for Mediation

A Request for Mediation to which you are a party has been accepted. You can find more information on the mediation subpage, Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Wikipedia:WikiProject Burma/Myanmar. For the Mediation Committee, Essjay (Talk) This message delivered by MediationBot, an automated bot account operated by the Mediation Committee to open new mediation cases. If you have questions about this bot, please contact the Mediation Committee directly.

This message delivered: 00:16, 8 January 2007 (UTC).

de:Paradeiser

... is more common than "Paradiesapfel" (http://perso.orange.fr/dalby/dictionary.html#Paradiesapfel) ;-) --Roland2 22:17, 9 January 2007 (UTC) (la:Rolandus)

Family history of Appius Claudius Caecus

Do you know of a family history relationship between Philip II of Macedon or Alexander the Great or Darius the Great or Cyrus the Great and Appius Claudius Caecus. It could possible be that one of their great (or great great) granddaughters married Appius Claudius Caecus. Whom is the wife of Appius Claudius Caecus? Do you know of an extensive Family Tree of Appius Claudius Caecus? I do not believe there is a direct "blood line" between any of these and Appius Claudius Caecus (that I know of). Thanks for help? --Doug ^talk 17:17, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Help!

Hello Andrew. Since you're our Byzantine historiography expert, I wonder if you can help me. I've written a stubbish article on the Prosopography of the Byzantine World project. However, I'm looking for some references to demonstrate that it's not just notable because of Averil Cameron's association and the fact that the British Academy are involved. I believe that there are some papers out there than mention it, but I don't have access to JSTOR and the like. If you do, is there anything of interest has been written about the PBW project? Thanks in advance, Angus McLellan (Talk) 11:16, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

A very good idea to have an article on this. Unfortunately, I don't have access to JSTOR either, and I haven't come across any articles about PBW yet. I'll keep my eyes open. Andrew Dalby 14:14, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Eat

In the "Museum voor Volkenkunde" (Knowledge of Peoples) in Leiden there is an exhibition called "eten" (eat). You might be interested, but unfortunately it is only in Dutch [7] --Antiphus 11:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Tyrensis et al.

this is iustinus, on by an utterly primative connection. forgive terseness.

in general I think we should give alternate names that occur in good sources. now that we're footnoting such things it's much easier to provide such info.

I promise not to be cross about your blanking of that page if you do likewise about my latest major contribution! ;-) --Iustinus 19:41, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Why, thank you, Iustine. I'm flattered that you think I'm worth all that Latin! I particularly like your versions of The Oxford Companion to Food and Dangerous Tastes. Very snappy. In the former case I might not have dared to use Comes, but there's your precedent from 1716. Andrew Dalby 21:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Adnotatiunculae is very nice, too. Le mot juste. Andrew Dalby 21:42, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I've been planning on writing or translating an article on you for a long time, but to be honest the main reason was that I was dying to have a Latin equivalent of Wikipedia:Wikipedians with articles ;)

Thank you, you know I am always searching for the right word. [Digression (a joke once told to me by my Yiddish teacher): "How do you say 'the right word' in French?" "Le vrai mot?" "No... that's... not quite the mot juste." I guess that's funnier when told by a Yiddish teacher ;) ] Do you have any suggestion regarding "food writer(s)" [see the disputatio page]? And what about the names of the various schools for which I was unable to find a precident: often if I can't find the Latin name, alumni will know of a source.

--Iustinus 18:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

It creates a redlink which soon ought to turn blue ...

Ha! I wish! Given that my main contribution to the Latin-speaking world seems to be my obsession with Wikipedia, it might be a little iffy to write about me there. In fact, I do have some influence on others about whom there are already articles, but that's mostly behind the scenes. Maybe once I get something published ;) (I suppose there's always the thing I mentioned here) --Iustinus 18:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

interested 8 year old!

Hi Andrew My son Ben is doing a project at school on the Ancient Greeks. He's keen to write about their diet and recipes. He really wants to make something simple which the ancient Greeks would have eaten and take it in to school as part of his project. Do you have a simple and tasty 'ancient' recipe which his fellow 8 year olds might like to try? Any interestng, child freindly web links or info would be greatly appreciated too. It seems like a nice entry point to the fascinating world of the ancient Greeks, so I'm keen to encourage his enthusiasm. Thanks and regards Alex alexandrahankinson@hotmail.com —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.146.233.36 (talk) 22:18, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

Quomodo Latine dicendum sit "comic book

I note you are considering writing about comic books. There is, I believe, already an article s.v. Liber Comicus or somesuch. Obviously that's not a great translation, given what it litterally means. The expression I most commonly hear in Neo-Latin circuls is liber nubeculatus, calqued off of Italian fumetto. Did you have somethign in mind? --Iustinus 18:30, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

polytonic

Hi Andrew, I deleted the ^polytonic formula in an article you recently created, I think Philaenis, if memory serves. I did this mostly because I don't understand its purpose. It seems to make greek look very weird to my eyes. Was there a reason you had this in there or was it just a copy/paste thing? If it was just a copy paste thing, could you still explain to me the use of the formula? Thanks!--Ioshus^(talk) 15:01, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for asking, Josh. Yes, it was copy-and-paste. On this occasion I had written the English Wikipedia article first and then did a Latin version (sometimes it's the other way round!) The template seems regularly used on English Wikipedia -- I never really found out why, I just follow suit -- but it doesn't seem to have the same effect on the font that it does on Vicipaedia. You were right to delete it. Andrew Dalby 17:11, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Interesting, yeah I notice that here it doesn't have the same effect. I wonder why that is. I'll do some investigating.--Ioshus^(talk) 17:35, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

The polytonic template, e.g. {{lang|grc|αἶξ}}, ensures that the accents on words like αἶξ are rendered properly on all browsers. Some browsers (I believe Internet Explorer through version 6) won't render these characters correctly unless given a little "help". Similarly for arbitrary Unicode characters, for which there is a Unicode template. The polytonic template is not strictly necessary on all Greek words in an article, but if some words use it, it's probably best that all do for consistency in appearance. --Macrakis 18:05, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Greek cuisine

Since you're an expert in the field, I think it would be useful if you could review Greek cuisine (which is about modern Greek cuisine). There has been some dispute there about how much to emphasize the Ottoman element compared to the Byzantine and ancient elements. My own take on the issue is that western romantic philhellism and Greek nationalism over-emphasize the ancient survivals and downplay the Ottoman heritage. Though you only devote a few pages to this in Siren Feasts, I'm sure your contributions would be very helpful. Thanks. --Macrakis 18:05, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Roma people

Hi, Andrew! I noticed that you've been participating in the discussion page for Roma people lately. I just wanted to say that if you have any questions concerning Romani culture, language, etc. feel free to ask me.

I'm not Romani myself, but I am doing research with Prof. Ian Hancock and seem to be more familiar with Romani Studies than most anyone on the discussion page. I have taken Prof. Hancock's class on Romani Studies as well. --Kuaichik 19:08, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for answering. You're right I had forgotten I asked, but I still remembered there was someone around here who knew 13 languages. :-) | AndonicO ^{Talk · Sign Here} 00:36, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

New Wine Discussion (by Agne) : Input Requested

Dear Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wine member:

There is an ongoing discussion at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Wine#Vintage_Infos_.28part_II.29 that has become

Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a wine guide

Please add your comments/input to the talk page Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_is_not_a_wine_guide.

Thanks! Regards -- Steve.Moulding 19:54, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Taxobox

I think I may have C&Ped the original old fashioned taxobox formula from en:. The fancier ones were done by others. In fact I know very little about programming templates. The people to ask about this are actually Mucius and UV. The former is our taxonomy expert (as you have no doubt noticed), and is also very good at templates. The latter is our template expert in general. --Iustinus 18:46, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Magistratus

Congratulations! --Iustinus 22:44, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

What happens now? Well... depends on you, I guess. All that's really different is that you can delete pages yourself, or lock them, and block or ban users. --Iustinus 15:47, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

... and you can edit pages which are protected, like "pagina prima". And you can protect pages. --Roland2 17:23, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Gratuliere! --Roland2 19:04, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Glad to have you around! --UV 21:22, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Congratulations (and for the date articles, I only had too much time...;-)) --Amphitrite

Congratulazioni, amministratore! - εΔω 16:52, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Proposing to merge List of basic classics topics to Classics

Seeking concensus on proposed merger at Talk:Classics. Cheers! Wassupwestcoast 01:37, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Cassuvium

Yeah, I'd just been about to talk to you about that. I keep running into Acosta, but so far as I know, his botanical works were not ever published in Latin. Is that right? If so, too bad for us! By the way, do you have any idea what the anacardus of the ancients was? --Iustinus 17:33, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

My mouth is watering! --Iustinus 18:45, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Myanmar outline map

Sure, no problem. I've uploaded the image onto Wikicommons now. The file names are the same: Image:Myanmar-outline-map.png ([8]). --Hintha 06:32, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

abbreviationes SRI etc.

puto nobis necesse est abbreviationes uti, quia alii reges eiusdem nominis existere possunt, e.g Henricus VI Angliae Ciao--85.0.74.191 20:35, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Wine Project Newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue I - February 18, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes Wine Project Article Assessment guide kicks into gear ; New Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a wine guide aims to develop POV and Notability guidelines for wine related articles; Wine related Requested Move on the Judgment of Paris; Wine related AfD on Goosecross Cellars Wine Sub-projects No current updates. Feel free to list your sub-project and an update on Wikipedia:WikiProject Wine/Newsletter/Sub-projects Wiki-Winos This week feature User:Charleenmerced Wine Improvement Drive - Carmenère

This newsletter is sent to those listed under Participants on the Wine Project page. If you wish to no longer receive this newsletter please include Decline newsletter next to your name on the Participant list. If you have any Wikipedia wine related news, announcements or suggestions drop a note in the Comments/Suggestion area of Wikipedia:WikiProject Wine/Newsletter.

Organizing members list on Myanmar Wikiproject

Hello! Would you like to have your say on how the members list on the Myanmar Wikiproject should be organized? You can participate here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Myanmar (Burma)/Members. Thanks and good day. --Hintha 02:25, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Request on the finger continued

Hi, did You perhaps check "the finger" in Aristophanes' Clouds?

Thanks, Szpawq 03:40, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Helping out with the Unassessed Wikipedia Biographies

Seeing that you are an active member of the WikiBiography Project, I was wondering if you would help lend a hand in helping us clear out the amount of unassessed articles tagged with {{WPBiography}}. Many of them are of stub and start class, but a few are of B or A caliber. Getting a simple assessment rating can help us start moving many of these biographies to a higher quality article. Thank you! --Ozgod 20:12, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Reges Franciae

Thank you very much! I wish I could write more about each king, but because of my poor Latin I can't. I hope somebody will ameliorate in the future the pages I have opened. Ciao--Massimo Macconi 11:16, 24 February 2007 (UTC)--62.203.207.130 11:15, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

About Occitan nobility

Hello Andrew, Thanks for the message and the help you offer. Sure, it seems real good to me. I wanted to tell you that I'm really impressed by your linguistic skills and general knowledge, congratulations! It's great to get to see erudite people around. I used to work on the Occitan wikipedia and tried to weave the links between the other wikipedias and add some comments or corrections whenever I felt that it was a more appropriate. I apologize if that might have offended or bothered you. I'm not in the Occitan wiki any more since there have been some tendencies of creating restrictions which seemed inappropriate to me lately and though it's difficult for me I've made the decision to move to the Catalan viquipèdia and there bring some little help of mine (about Occitan and maybe other matters). I will also pay a closer look on the Occitan issue in the English Wikipedia but I sometimes have the feeling that my English is not as good as I wish it should be. Thanks again and I hope you have real success in the elaboration of your cider and the other less serious matters! Have a nice day, week and year! See you! Capsot aka Claudi Balaguer

Wikiproject Biography March 2007 Newsletter

The March 2007 issue of the Biography WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. Mocko13 22:39, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Sops and frumenty for all!

At long last, the long-overdue nomination of medieval cuisine as an FAC is under way. You are invited to grab your fill of potage, quince pie, a subtlety worthy of a pope, and all the beer you can drink! Oh, and don't forget to make a few comments while you're digging in...

Peter ^Isotalo 21:22, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Wine Project Newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue II - March 4th, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes Updates on Wine article assessment ; Wine Portal, Barnstars; and Notability of Masters of Wine Wine Sub-projects- Ongoing need for Wine labels with tips on removal. Project drive to get Wine article up to GA. Wiki-Winos This week's feature User:mroconnell Wine Improvement Drive - Languedoc wine plus update on last WID article Carmenère

This newsletter is sent to those listed under Participants on the Wine Project page. If you wish to no longer receive this newsletter please include Decline newsletter next to your name on the Participant list. If you have any Wikipedia wine related news, announcements or suggestions drop a note in the Comments/Suggestion area of Wikipedia:WikiProject Wine/Newsletter.

Portuguese themes

Dear andrew... I see that yiu a re a lusophile, I would like to invite you to proof-read and discuss Censorship in Portugal and Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(Portuguese-related_articles) which I have translated and started. My interest is preserving and expanding the presence of Portuguese culture on Wikipedia and any help is welcome. Galf 15:17, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes, Galf, I'll have a look at those articles.

In Garcia de Orta I'm inclined to change "medical things" back to "materia medica". So far as I know, "medical things" doesn't mean anything in English. "Materia medica" is a real phrase that is used in English (at least by pharmacists), and it is the exact equivalent of Garcia's cousas medicinais. Andrew Dalby 16:01, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

You are right about that, however, I'd like to point out your own commentary on it: "at least by pharmacists"... Medical matters pehaps? I had no problem reading it, but I wonder about non latin versed readers Galf 16:10, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough. It's true that "materia medica" is not in the first English dictionary I checked. I knew the phrase only because I used to be a medical librarian. The precise English words would be "medicinal substances". Shall I put that? Andrew Dalby 17:03, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

I suppose I could agree with the substances...although I personally like the sound of medical "things", specially because "cousas" is such an archaic word and the title has a sort of mystical tone. But this is an encyclopedias, after all. BTW, have you spent time on those two excellent articles :-)? Galf 17:18, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Can I plead the 5th on the Eça subject? I copied that piece without actually realizing the "mãe incognita" part.....So I guess you win. It's a wierd concept though....you ALWAYS know who the mother is... Galf 16:57, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Exactly. It is very odd indeed. I think it was because of that extreme oddity that the article I originally read set out the theory that, in reality, he was Carolina's son, not the judge's, and the judge dealt with it in this strange way to spare her disgrace. But I will try to find it again. Andrew Dalby 17:03, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

I'd like to thank you for the rewrite in WP-MOS-PT. It reads much better now.

P.S: You shouldn't use the font tag on your signatures, but really I don't care. Too many people doing that to warn them all against it.--Saoshyant ^{talk / contribs} (please join WP:Portugal or WP:SPOKEN) 18:54, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

I second that...The censorship article could really do with someone unrelated to Portugal to try and spot concepts that need explanation. Do you know anyone? Galf 21:09, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Need help on Categories

What would be good Categories for my article Letter to Posterity that was written by Petrarch in 1372? --Doug ^talk 16:23, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Wine Project Newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue III - March 18, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes New look for Wine Project Page; Wine Article assessment; Operation Stub-killer; New Template for Australian Wineries; New wine stub categories proposed. Wiki-Winos This issue's feature Christopher Tanner, CCC Wine Improvement Drive - Pinot Gris plus update on last WID article Languedoc wine

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Petrarch De Viris Illustribus

Thanks again for the help. You are the one that transferred my text to the new article De Viris Illustribus (Petrarch). Compare from the original to what it is now two months later. It has developed and expanded much. From that idea I started an article on De Viris Illustribus (Jerome) following the same theme. Turns out the articles are similar. Jerome's list is much longer so I put it into 4 columns for easier navigation. If you care to edit it and improve the article I welcome anything you do because I know it will be very constructive. Thanks for all your help. --Doug ^talk 12:42, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Biography

21:01, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Dear Mr. Dalby,

First, I would like to say that I am a big fan of your Dictionary of Languages. It contains a lot of fun information, and I read it often.

I read your biography on Wikipedia and your web page because I was curious about your education (i.e., where you went to school, what you studied, and for how long). I think that those pages would be better off with that information.

Also, although I enjoy your Dictionary of Languages, I think that it would be more valuable if it were expanded — although I understand such a project could easily get out of hand. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics contains advanced linguistic information about languages, and general encyclopedias like Encyclopedia Americana contain basic grammatical information. I think that if you threw in some of the grammar found in those works and maybe a list of common phrases (like World Book Encyclopedia and Encarta do), readers would be relieved of having to read three different works.

Regards,

Richard Maxwell

Hi Mr. Dalby. My aplogies for the late reply. I hope you don't mind me putting that information into your Wikipedia article. Let me know if it doesn't flow as well as it did before. I'm sort of a biography nut. I'm especially interested in multilingual people and those with broad knowledge. Thank you for the replies, and I wish you all the best.--Richard Maxwell 19:33, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Subtleties and entremets

As someone who has written extensively about food, do you think you could have a glance at subtlety and entremet? Do you know if this is an accurate description of how food historians define the two terms?

Peter ^Isotalo 08:58, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Quinta das Lágrimas

You speak IPA don't you? The article could use it...Galf 14:38, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Just curious about one thing, you used a different symbol for the s in "das" that you used for the one in "Lágrimas". Speaking out loud in portuguese they seem to be the same kind of s, but I don't know IPA.Galf 16:14, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, you're better at Portuguese than I am! My teacher taught me, and my grammar book confirms, that when a final -s is followed by a voiced consonant (e.g. l-) it becomes voiced (like the j- in jogo). Since the -s of lagrimas is followed by nothing, it certainly remains unvoiced (like the ch- in chuva). If you feel that the -s of das, in this phrase, is like the ch- in chuva, not like the j- in jogo, then by all means change it from ʒ to ʃ -- I shan't mind! Andrew Dalby 19:49, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Andrew, I'm sorry, but after reading your comment 3 times I still couldn't understand it...the only difference i spot between the two sounds is that between das and Lágrimas the sounds are a bit more connected, but that could be my pronunciation. is the ʒ for that? or is it for a more "z" sound? Is there any good IPA reference for Portuguese you could suggest? or just give me another example of ʒ and ʃ for comparison?Galf 00:17, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

What you call "connected" is the difference, yes. Look at Portuguese phonology#Fricatives. They use the two examples I give (jogo for the ʒ sound, chuva for the ʃ sound), but also the examples of felizmente (for the ʒ sound) and isto (for the ʃ sound).

I learned from a Portuguese teacher (who had studied phonetics) but the written source I checked yesterday was R. C. Willis, An essential course in modern Portuguese (Harrap, 1965) p. 25. Well, Galf, I think that's the best I can do on a Wikipedia page. As I said before, if you disagree with me, you're free to change the transcription. But to go further, you might need to find a friend who has studied phonetics, and listen to yourselves making these sounds over a few glasses of beer or wine! Best wishes Andrew Dalby 12:33, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Wine Project Newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue IV - April 1st, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes New Grape Infobox; Standard Grape article format; Wine photos; New wine stub categories created; Wine related deletion notices; and more Sub Projects Updates on Operation Stub Killer Wiki-Winos This issue's feature Steve Moulding. Wine Improvement Drive - Sauvignon blanc plus update on last WID article Pinot gris and comments on the new B Article Adoption

This newsletter is sent to those listed under Participants on the Wine Project page. If you wish to no longer receive this newsletter please include Decline newsletter next to your name on the Participant list. If you have any Wikipedia wine related news, announcements or suggestions drop a note in the Comments/Suggestion area of Wikipedia:WikiProject Wine/Newsletter.

Wiki-Winos

Howdy! I was curious if you would be interested in participating in an upcoming Wiki-Winos feature for the Wine Project Newsletter. If you are, take a look at the Interview Questionnaire and feel free to answer any or all of the questions that you like. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line on my talk page. There you would find a link to User talk:Agne27/Wiki-Winos to where you could answer the Wiki-Winos question. Thanks! Agne^Cheese/^Wine 02:26, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Across the sea..

here I come :) ..Hello Andrew,
Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Edoardo and I'm coming from Italian Wiki. I'm keen about Geoffrey Chaucer and about his work: so, I decided to write a little page about one of his work, Treatise on the Astrolabe. There is a problem: I know little about middle english, but I am not sure about my ability, so it would be pleasing to me to check if I really understand everything well. Do you know if there is a sort of paraphrase about Treatise on internet? I did not find it :(. Thank you in advice :)

Edoardo SkedO - Italian user

Wine Project Newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue V - April 15, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes New wine product members, Wine GAs and DYKs and more Sub Projects Updates on Operation Stub Killer Wiki-Winos This issue's feature is one of our resident winemakers - The Bethling. Wine Improvement Drive - Bordeaux wine and splinter articles plus update on last WID article Sauvignon blanc

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Wikiconcours été 2007

Salut,

Durant les mois de mai et de juin, il y a un concours sur WP francophone qui consiste à améliorer des articles. Malheureusement je n'ai que très peu de temps à consacrer mais je me joindrais volontiers à une équipe pour la Roumanie, si quelqu'un en créait une. Je ne peux juste pas être le chef de l'équipe. Aurais-tu envie de participer au concours et si oui, quels articles proposerais-tu? Pour en discuter, rendez-vous ici.

--Defrenrokorit 17:29, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

GA-grade for Stefan Bathory

Hi, I saw you assessed Stefan Bathory as a Good Article for the WPBiography project. However, that grade is reserved for those articles that have successfully passed a Good Article review. Since Stefan Bathory was never nominated for GA, I've downgraded it to B-class. If you feel it deserves to be GA, please nominate the article at WP:GAN, and wait for the review. Errabee 10:30, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

User functions

Iustinus Andreae spd. Might I suggest that, since you have your user page at User:Andrew Dalby/Original instead of User:Andrew Dalby, it might make sense to add to the latter page explicit links to the various functions that normally appear in the toolbox when you are looking at a user page (but not at a sub page), viz. User contributions and E-mail this user? Otherwise one has to take rather a circuitous rout to get to those pages. --Iustinus 23:46, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Shan States

I noticed that you have been touching the "list of shan states".... There was some major edits by someone who had no knowledge in the area about a month or so ago, and we should revert to before that, because he put in stuff that is not verified and I know from personal knowledge that some of the names of rulers that he put in are plain wrong, dates are wrong, and included Kachin states as well. My preference would be to go by the states that existed in 1886 and remove everything else. The lesser states come and go and there are few reliable records of the smaller states before 1886. I was also hoping to put in the long/lat of the places. BTW, worldstatesmen.org is a bad reference for the Shan states. Scott, Sao Saimong, and _List of Rulling Familes__ are better references. Feedback? Kanbawsa 21:10, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Biography Summer 2007 Assessment Drive

WikiProject Biography Summer 2007 Assessment Drive!

WikiProject Biography is holding a three month long assessment drive!
The goal of this drive is to eliminate the backlog of unassessed articles. The drive is running from June 1, 2007 – September 1, 2007.

Awards to be won range from delicacies such as the WikiCookie to the great Golden Wiki Award.
There are over 110,000 articles to assess so please visit the drive's page and help out!

This drive was conceived of and organized by Psychless with the help of Ozgod. Regards, Psychless ^{Type words!}.

De bello Troiano

Hi Andrew, I've tracked down online versions in English and Latin and added them to the pages here and in the Latin wiki. As it's a long time since I did any prose composition you might want to comment whether my Latin for the link was correct. "Carmen incipit" was I think what I settled for.

BTW would you mind helping me with understanding some Greek. I'm working on Troilusand am puzzled by the two different interpretations, in the secondary sources of the word "hippiocharmen" used by Homer to describe Troilos at Iliad XXIV 257. The two schools are that either it means someone who delights in horses or that it refers to a horse (i.e. chariot) warrior. I've recently discovered the scholia to the Iliad in this very large pdf document [9].

On page 579 it explains the term with "hetoi aph hippo^n machomenon he^ hippois chaironta" (I think I've transliterateed that correctly. I'm having trouble getting anything useful out of the Perseus morphological analysis tool and, hardly knowing any Greek, am not getting anywhere with the dictionaries there. All that I'm sure is that the comments are very horsey but I wonder whether it says that both interpretations are correct.

Thanks.--Peter cohen 23:24, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your help, Andrew. A very clear explanation of the problems.

The scholia actually brackets the iota in hippiocharmen. So that goes with the idea that it was just there to fit the scansion. As far as I can make sense from the annotations, the listing of the two interpretations in the scholia derives from Apollonius the Sophist i.e. not long after Virgil, but the text is all Greek to me (apart from the bits in Latin and German ;-).

Some ancient pottery (e.g. this [10] Hellenistic piece from Magna Graecia) goes along with the idea of Troilus being a horse fighter not a chariot fighter. And I think it must be a lance that he's holding in the archaic Etruscan fresco I've included at the top of the Troilus article.

Virgil's text seems to have its own problems of interpretation, because "congressus" (as used by Virgil, Seneca and Ausonius) is ambiguous about whether it is just a meeting or a proper coming together in battle. Servius thinks Virgil bowdlerised the Troilus story to make it suitable for epic verse but interprets the text as a meeting in battle, whilst Gantz and the authors he follows think Troilus was ambushed and was unarmed. In fact getting on for half the ancient sources I look at seem to have contested meanings.

Anyway, thanks again. --Peter cohen 21:47, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

I've since discovered two more scholia to the line

Scholion S-I24257a. Source: exegetical scholion <Μήστορα τ' ἀντίθεον καὶ Τρωΐλον ἱππιοχάρμην:> ἐντεῦθεν Σοφοκλῆς ἐν Τρωΐλῳ (T.G.F. p. 266 n. = II p. 253 P.)φησὶν αὐτὸν λοχηθῆναι ὑπὸ Ἀχιλλέως ἵππους γυμνάζοντα παρὰ τὸ Θυμβραῖον καὶ ἀποθανεῖν. ὑπονοήσειε δ' ἄν τις τὸν Μήστορα πρεσβύτατον εἶναι τῶν Πριαμιδῶν, καὶ τὸν Τρωΐλον οὐ παῖδα, διότι ἐν τοῖς ἀρίστοις καταλέγεται. T

I can make out Sophocles, Achilles, horses and the Thymbra in the first sentence and at a guess gymnazonta is about exercise. So I assume that it is the ambush story where he is exercising his horses. In the second sentence I can spot something about Troilos being a boy but don't understand the rest.

Scholion S-I24257b. Source: Aristonicus Τρωΐλον ἱππιοχάρμην: ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ εἰρῆσθαι ἱππιοχάρμην τὸν Τρωΐλον οἱ νεώτεροι ἐφ' ἵππου διωκόμενον αὐτὸν ἐποίησαν. καὶ οἱ μὲν παῖδα αὐτὸν ὑποτίθενται, Ὅμηρος δὲ διὰ τοῦ ἐπιθέτου τέλειον ἄνδρα ἐμφαίνει· οὐ γὰρ ἄλλος ἱππόμαχος λέγεται. A

This one gives me a lot more trouble though I can still spot paida in there. --Peter cohen 23:35, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks again Andrew. --Peter cohen 09:49, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Troilus is now a GA. Thanks again for your contribution about the meaqning of ἱππιοχάρμην.--Peter cohen 12:56, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Wine Project Newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue VI - May 6th, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes New wine members, maps wanted, fame at last Sub Projects Updates on Operation Stub Killer Wiki-Winos Why port is poison and a special night in Chinon - this issue features your stand-in editor, FlagSteward. Wine Improvement Drive - was Cabernet Franc, currently Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC

This newsletter is sent to those listed under Participants on the Wine Project page. If you wish to no longer receive this newsletter please include Decline newsletter next to your name on the Participant list. If you have any Wikipedia wine related news, announcements or suggestions drop a note in the Comments/Suggestion area of Wikipedia:WikiProject Wine/Newsletter.

Apologies to everyone for this notification being sent out so late, events in real life prevented me from distributing it at the time, and the Wine Project's had a bit of a lull during the Northern Hemsiphere summer. But as the nights draw in, activity should pick up again, and hopefully the next Newsletter will arrive a little more quickly....

The next few weeks are the perfect time to take photos of grapes in the Northern Hemisphere - get your cameras out! FlagSteward 15:58, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

I like what you write

Andrew, thank you for improving articles on the troubadours and trobairitz. I see that you are trying to improve Wikipedia's coverage, even into the lesser-known poets. All my best, Amy Van Vleck —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.103.223.63 (talk) 05:54, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Don't Panic

May I use you HHGTTG userbox for mon page français? -Leodmacleod 2:00 5-10-2007 (UTC)

Mais oui! Vas-y! Andrew Dalby 09:03, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Biography Newsletter 5

The Biography WikiProject Newsletter Volume IV, no. 4 - September 2007
Project News The three-month long Summer Assessment Drive, organized by Psychless, was a huge success! It ran from June 1 – September 1, and reduced the backlog of unassessed articles from 113,385 to 56,237. In all, over 100,000 articles were assessed. Over 60 people contributed in some way. A barnstar has been created for exceptional work on Wikipedia biographies and for assisting the project. The Biography Barnstar is listed with the other WikiProject awards and can be awarded easily with a template. See the template page for more details. Member News Congratulations to the editors who worked on the newest featured biographies: Augustus; William Shakespeare; Adriaen van der Donck; Alfred Russel Wallace; Alison Krauss; Anne Frank; Anne of Denmark; Asser; Bart King; Bill O'Reilly; Bobby Robson; Bradley Joseph; CM Punk; Ceawlin of Wessex; Colley Cibber; Cædwalla of Wessex; Dominik Hašek; Elizabeth Needham; Frank Macfarlane Burnet; Georg Cantor; Gregory of Nazianzus; Gunnhild Mother of Kings; Gwen Stefani; Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery; Harriet Arbuthnot; Harry S. Truman; Henry, Bishop of Uppsala; Héctor Lavoe; Ine of Wessex; Ion Heliade Rădulescu; Jack Sheppard; Jackie Chan; Jay Chou; John Martin Scripps; John Mayer; Joseph Francis Shea; Joshua A. Norton; Kate Bush; Kazi Nazrul Islam; Kevin Pietersen; Martin Brodeur; Mary Martha Sherwood; Mary of Teck; Maximus the Confessor; Miranda Otto; Muhammad Ali Jinnah; P. K. van der Byl; Penda of Mercia; Pham Ngoc Thao; Rabindranath Tagore; Ramón Emeterio Betances; Red Barn Murder; Richard Hakluyt; Richard Hawes; Robert Garran; Roman Vishniac; Ronald Niel Stuart; Ronald Reagan; Roy Welensky; Rudolph Cartier; Samuel Adams; Samuel Beckett; Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; Sarah Trimmer; Sargon of Akkad; Shen Kuo; Sophie Blanchard; Stereolab; Sydney Newman; Sylvanus Morley; Tim Duncan; Timeline of Mary Wollstonecraft; Uncle Tupelo; Waisale Serevi; Wallis, Duchess of Windsor; Walter Model; William Bruce; William Goebel; Yagan; Zhou Tong; Æthelbald of Mercia; Æthelbald of Mercia New Members Congratulations to our 225 new members	From the Editors The newsletter is back! Many things have gone on during the past few months, but many things have not. While the assessment drive helped revitalize the assessment department of the project, many other departments have received no attention. Most notably: peer review and our "workgroups". A day long IRC meeting has been planned for October 13th, with the major focus being which areas of the project are "dead", what should our goals be as a project, and how to "revive" the dead areas of our project. Contribute to the discussion on the the new channel (see below) We decided to deliver this newsletter to all project members this month but only those with their names down here will get it delivered in the future. This is your newsletter and you can be involved in the creation of the next issue. Any and all contributions are welcome. Simply let yourself be known to any of the undersigned or post news on the next issue's talk page New irc channel Lastly, a new WikiProject Biography channel has been set up on the freenode network: #wikipedia-en-bio Our thanks to Phoenix 15 for setting it up. Contributors to this Issue Psychless (talk · contribs) Phoenix 15 (talk · contribs)
Complete To Do List Write an article Expand an article about: a person an actor an animator an artist a bishop a businessperson a diplomat an educator an engineer a lawyer a military person a musician a photographer a saint a politician a scientist a sportsperson a writer Improve an article by: adding references adding categories Review an article Romano Volta • Suzanne Carrell • Mullá Husayn • John Gilchrist (linguist) • Thomas Brattle • Answer requests for comments Work on the Portal Portal:Biography Assess an article Assessment requests Unassessed articles Assessment Progress Biography articles by quality and importance Quality Importance Core Other ??? Total FA 34 1,599 1,633 FL 192 192 A 1 104 105 GA 41 8,106 8,147 B 92 37,520 37,612 C 37 160,521 160,558 Start 3 738,184 738,187 Stub 1 1,031,622 1 1,031,624 List 7,490 7,490 Category 2 215,350 215,352 Disambig 8,081 8,081 File 29,734 29,734 Project 198 198 Redirect 3 42,093 42,096 Template 12,708 12,708 NA 238 238 Assessed 214 2,293,740 1 2,293,955 Unassessed 32,176 32,176 Total 214 2,325,916 1 2,326,131 WikiWork factors (?) ω = 10,652,155 Ω = 5.39
We couldn't do it without you!

To receive this newsletter in the future, please list yourself in the appropriate section here. This newsletter was delivered by the automated R Delivery Bot 15:22, 7 October 2007 (UTC) .

Albigensian Crusade citations

Having discussed the withdrawal of GA with LuciferMorgan, I give notice that I am sitting down with the three classic original source texts (Puylaurens, Vaux-de-Cernay and de Tudèle - the last in the Livre de Poche edition as the Martin-Chabot is long out of print) to add the missing inline citations to this page. I do not intend at this point to make any textual alterations, but if comments are made which are NOT justified, be prepared to state your sources now. Jel 17:17, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

By all means, the more the merrier - if you want to tackle that side of things, it'll preserve the distinction in voices and opinions. I'm using the Livre de Poche edition because it's available, the other one's getting hard to find, I think (although because I'm writing from Belgium, it may just be local conditions). They use the Martin-Chabot Occitan text as well, and it would be better to use that, in fact, as the translations are none of them particularly brilliant, being often unconsciously weighted by Catholic POV. A bit of personal background - I'm doing a Masters in the Flemish mystic Jan van Ruusbroec(c1290-1381) under Antwerp University, there are aspects running into this Crusade (Konrad von Urach, the second Legate) and I want this page well-established before shaking the rafters!Jel 21:35, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Melpo Merlier

A small article about Melpo Merlie is ready on greek wiki in case you are interested, since you added a red link. Greetings--Kalogeropoulos 15:54, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Don't bother on Albigensian Crusade

I've resigned in disgust at the way GA behave. Jeremy —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jelmain (talk • contribs) 15:26, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

John Parkinson (botanist): More Latin translation help needed

Hi, Andrew. More help needed: Charles I conferred on Parkinson the title of Botanicus Regis Primarius. Would you translate this as "First Royal Botanist"? Do reply at the talk page. Thanks. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 02:11, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Barry Baldwin

You added a notability tag to this. I see why, but I have now added a fair bit of detail and bibliography. I thought I could now reasonably take the tag off, so that's what I've done, but please put it back if you disagree! Andrew Dalby 15:23, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Oops! Didn't mean to catch you in the middle of things. Looks great now. (P.S., I would certainly translate Botanicus Regis Primarius as "First Royal Botanist", for what that's worth. :-).) Tim Ross·^talk 15:44, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Notability of Hilary Bardwell

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WP:WINE newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue VII - December 8th, 2007

In this edition: Back in black...or rather wine stain burgundy Yes, the newsletter is back and we catch up with the some of the great work being done by Wine Project members like Kharker, VirginiaProp, BodegasAmbite and more! Updates on Operation Stubkiller, GAs, and DYKs As well as advice and links for finding photos and illustrations for our wine articles

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Sappho

Your input would be appreciated on the article Sappho and the debate on its Talk page. I am trying to add a Music section to this article since it is an important part of Sappho's life. Presently there is nothing mentioned as her being associated with music. I put in my edits yesterday on a complete section about Music, however they have been totally removed as being inappropriate. In the Talk page I have given my reasons why I believe these are appropriate with many references showing each point of the 10 sentences - written in bold. Any additions, improvements, or comments would be helpful. Thanks. --Doug ^talk 21:21, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

WP:WINE newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue VIII - December 22nd, 2007

In this edition: News & Notes - Could Zinfandel become the project's first Featured article? Great opportunities for wine related illustrations, a new 1855-Bordeaux template, Did you knows and MORE! Wiki-Winos - User:Jmjanssen and the mysterious Woop Woop Wine articles on the Web - Find out how our Port wine, Chardonnay, Retsina & other wine articles have been referenced on the web and what do outside folks think about the overall quality of our wine articles?

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The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue IX - January 7th, 2008

In this edition: News & Notes - Portal:Wine up for Featured Portal status, WANTED-GA Coordinator/liaison and wine region maps, and can you guess which wine-related article was viewed over 85,000 times in December? Wiki-Winos - Amatulić and his joke that may make you think twice about accepting an unknown glass of wine from a stranger Wine articles on the Web - Did the Shiraz grape originate in Iran? Where did the Ah-so bottle opener get its name? What is up with that petroleum smell in some Riesling wines? And what the heck is Domaine de la Romanée-Conti doing planting Pinot noir fin? These are the questions that people out on the web are asking. Find out what answers they get when they turn to our Wikipedia wine articles.

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Ioscio viso in conventiculo APA, Didaskalos paginam suam repetit.

Marcus quondam magister A. D. Vicimagistro s.p.d.:

"Didaskalos" ille persona mera est; ille, sed non ego, Troianos interficit; iuvenes persequitur, rem omnem "classicam" facit. Ergo, Imaginem "Didaskalou" a vicipaedia toto mundo monstrari mihi non pudet. Ut stet pagina illa, humiliter supplico, in mea pagina usoris, ut benigne praebuisti.

Tibi gratias ago,

Marcus/Didaskalos mrminer071166@yahoo.com 24.30.97.49 (talk) 09:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Id feci (vide la:Usor:Didaskalos). Salve! Andrew Dalby 13:05, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Ob beneficium tuum, gratias plurimas ago! 66.56.14.226 (talk) 20:22, 18 January 2008 (UTC) Marcus/"Didaskalos"

AfD nomination of Imekanu

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Informing past contributors of new TFD for Template:Maintained

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The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue X - January 31st, 2008

In this edition: News & Notes - Portal:Wine is a now a Featured Portal! National WINE PRIDE will be on the line as we see which wine country articles got the most page views in the month of Jan-and you maybe surprised at which countries beat out the US & California. The Judgement of Paris it's not. Wiki-Winos - VanTucky Meet our new GA liaison and find out what in the world is he doing with those sheep? Wiki wine articles on the Web - A Graciano, Monastrell and Mourvedre grape walk into a bar and meet Carole Meredith....find out how an expert proved a Wikipedia article wrong. Also, our Sparkling wine production article braves new frontiers in the annals of rock band naming games. Plus, find out how our Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine article helped out Wine blogging Wednesday, what makes red wine red and whether riserva Brunello is better than standard Brunello.

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Harcourt interpolation

Hi Andrew Dalby. Can we come up with a better source for this article as per WP:RS? So far we only have:

1. Self-published website that doesn't actually verify article;
2. Self-published website that verifies article but is based on:
3. Book of dubious authority that none of us has actually read and would be embarrassed to buy/ get from library.

I was thinking of checking The Times on Thompson but I assume it will be the reprinted edition.Cutler (talk) 12:29, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

OK, I haven't read that book either, and I'm not about to get it out of the library. But

1. I have read the Portuguese source, Cartas de Inglaterra, so I could cite it more precisely;
2. and the first website does verify the article (and I don't understand why it's more "self-published" than any other website, but that's another question) because it includes the following:

"The Times. Jan 23 1882. P.C. 24. a. 16. Noted in Rose/Reade 4547, as "Remarkable on account of the indecent interpolation in the speech of the Home Secretary Sir W. V. Harcourt at Burton-on-Trent. See the 4th column of page 7, the 53rd line from the bottom." Ashbee Catena, lv, who notes that an apology appeared in the issue for January 27th immediately after the leaders. A similar interpolation in the issue of June 12, 1882, page 8, col. 2, in an advertisement for a book, Everyday Life in our Public Schools. See Rose/Reade 4582."

So I will try to use this to give better citations. I know what Ashbee Catena is; I don't know what Rose/Reade is, but maybe I can find out. Andrew Dalby 19:00, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

OK, perhaps I am being picky but I wanted a cite for the Harcourt article and as it's a rather lurid fact I felt it needed a better than average source. Perhaps I shouldn't cause too much trouble here. There's plenty of other work to do. BTW, Harcourt seems to have had more than his share of stunts viz the Home Office Baby.Cutler (talk) 21:34, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of Template:User Cider

A tag has been placed on Template:User Cider requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section T3 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a deprecated or orphaned template. After seven days, if it is still unused and the speedy deletion tag has not been removed, the template will be deleted.

If the template is intended to be substituted, please feel free to remove the speedy deletion tag and please consider putting a note on the template's page indicating that it is substituted so as to avoid any future mistakes (<noinclude>{{transclusionless}}</noinclude>).

Thanks. --MZMcBride (talk) 22:30, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

WP:WINE newsletter

The Wine Project Newsletter! Issue XI - February 21st, 2008

In this edition: News & Notes - Every American Viticultural Area now has an article! Keeping up with the B class wine articles and find out which start class article of top importance was viewed almost 43,000 times between Dec-Jan. Plus, find out which wine related Did you knows helped to dispel the myths around the Shiraz grape's origins and which Bordeaux wine chateau was a last minute addition to the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855-not without some controversy. Also, what wine articles have the most potential to reach Good article status? Wiki-Winos - Meet User:EvanProdromou! Evan who? Well let just say that another "wiki-wino" has come out the closet to say Hi and share what his project Vinismo can do to help Wikipedia's wine articles. Wiki wine articles on the Web - Guess which prominent wine personality thinks that Wikipedia is one of the best wine resources on the web? Also find out who thinks our Mission grape article is lacking and how our Plavac Mali article cleared up some confusion about the grape's relationship to Zinfandel. Plus, was Mick Jagger really singing about Sommeliers in the Stone's song Beast of Burden?

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The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree...Assuming I'm Looking at the Right Tree

I hope I'm not being forward or inappropriate here, but I can't help but think that you might be related to David Dalby the linguist. I am familiar with his work on African languages and own a well-used copy of the Linguasphere Register. (Taivo (talk) 18:00, 27 February 2008 (UTC))

Not quite the right tree. David Dalby and I met and talked a few years ago, and he gave me a copy of the Linguasphere Register which I also use often, but we aren't related. Andrew Dalby 19:27, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Lament in The Odyssey

Replied to your post on the Lament Talk page. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Lament#Odyssey). Feel free to delete this section after you've received the message =) --GParan (talk) 19:39, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Portugese witch trials

Hello, Andrew Dalby! I'm interested in witch trials, and think it would be interesting to have cases from all countries in the subject. I know Portugal was a country with very few witch trials, but I have heard about some; in 1599, five people where burned as witches in Lissabon, another one a little later, and one by the Inqusition at Evora in 1626. Do you have any information? I don't know if you are interested in the subject, but if you are, I think it would be very interesting to read about this. I can't ask you to create an article, of course, (though I would be grateful for the shortest stub) but perhaps you can recomend names to google? I have asked this question on the Portugal project-page as well. --Aciram (talk) 11:16, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Naming conventions (Burmese)

Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for stopping by Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Burmese) to express your opinion. If you could also state whether or not you believe the existing page should become an official Naming convention page, that would help greatly, as we currently don't have enough opinions expressed to gauge any sort of consensus on the matter. Kaldari (talk) 21:07, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/Madeira work group

Hello! I see you are a participant in Wikipedia:WikiProject Portugal. You may want to come to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Africa/Madeira work group and participate / help. Thanks! The Ogre (talk) 15:04, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

delhi durbar 1911

whatever is said in your article is based on the matter after the coronation durbar was held. do you know that some one had published abook known as delhi durbar1911 befaore the actal coronation was held. If not please contact me to know more —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.180.8.38 (talk) 14:31, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Pagina corrigenda??

Hi, Andrew!

I wonder if you'd care to drop by Mutatis mutandis, check the recent changes, and the discussion at Talk:Mutatis mutandis#Is this really in accordance with common usage?. I'm in a (friendly) discussion with Rotational (talk · contribs) (and also made a minor remark on the user talk page); however, since seemingly none of us is a more "professional" classicist, I think that some view from this direction might be useful.

Very briefly, as far as I understand, Rotational is of the opinion that mutatis mutandis semantically is synonymous with ceteris paribus, and edited the m. m. article in that direction; I think that these phrases are kind of opposits (as also the article stated before the recent changes). (Preferring talking things out to warring, I've not edited yet.)

Best, JoergenB (talk) 17:37, 26 September 2008 (UTC) (la:wiki signature: Georgius B)