Re: [tied] Re: Affects of immigrant communities in language change

In a message dated 8/8/01 6:38:13 AM Central Daylight Time,
tgpedersen@... writes:

All these *t-r-ch and *t-r-q- are not
perchance related to Snorri's "Turks"?

Dear Joseph,

   Sounds like a good speculation but it is much more likely that Snorri
would be much more familiar with the Mameluke Turks who fought the crusaders
in Palestine under Saladin than obsuce references to transitory migrants at
the end of the Bronze Age/Early Bronze Age cited in some Classical authors
whose works were not yet available to most in the West outside of the few
universities that had been the recipients of books pillaged from the sack of
Constantinople in 1204.

   Is there any evidence that Snorri could read classical Greek and Latin?
I suspect he could use Latin well but not necessary the Latin of Roman
scholarship, but the Latin of the Catholic Church which ran the universities,
copied the books, maintained the libraries and provided the professors.

  The above being said, don't let me discourage you from the t - r - q
possibilities. The key would be in examining Snorri's assets, not in ancient
texts.

Best regards, John Piscopo
http://www.johnpiscoposwords.com
PO Box 137
Western Springs, IL 60558-0137
(708)246-7111