From: jpisc98357@...
Message: 9148
Date: 2001-09-07
Speaking of Polish nobility: I have always
had difficulty etymologizing the name of Radziwil. -dzi- says it's Polish
but what is it made up of?
Dear Torsten,
A prince of Egypt by the name of Ra-hotep escaped with a band of warriors
after the second conquest of Egypt by the Persians in 341 BC. This little
band managed to cross the Meditteranean Sea first to Malta then Magna Grecia,
landing at the Greek city of Metapontum. After a brief stay they migrated
northwards, serving as mercenaries in the service of various Italic tribes
who knew of Egypt only in gossip.
The warriors married locally and prospered, gradually moving north where
they settled for a while in the northern fringes of the Po Valley with the
Alps at their back for protection. The name Ra-Hotep was in fact held by
each new generation of their kings. The Rhaetians occupied a neighboring
valley.
They warred constantly with their Celtic Boii neighbors and since their
numbers were so few, they decided to leave the Po basin and make their way
through one of the passes of the Alps into what is now Austria.
Unfortunately, they ran into more Celtic tribes that were allied to the Boii
in the Czech basin and were forced to flee further north.
Their years living in the Alpine foothills had given these Egyptians
mountaineering experience that served them well not only in crossing the Alps
but also in crossing the much easier Slovakian Mountains, easier to pass
through but containing warlike Slavs, some descended from a band of warriors
who had moved north at about the same time from the sea of Azov and had
successfully allied themselves with the Slovaks against the more savage
tribes to the north called the Podolians.
As the Slovaks were hard pressed, they welcomed the Egyptians as new
allies and together their forces defeated the Podolians, unfortunately with
the loss of the Slovak King Kraak.
Kraak's son decided that his new allies would be a useful bulwark against
the Podolians so he established them in a comfortable and fertile value as
his vassals, naming the new area Kraakups in honor of his lost father.
Ra-Hotep was given a Podolian princess as a bride to seal the peace, she
was the daughter of a dead son of King Dzima who had died in the battle. A
small barony was thus created and a new name for the king was Ra-Dzi. The
area became prosperous and when the Slovak Kingdom fell to the Huns in 434
the little barony allied itself to the Podolians as virtually everyone now
spoke Podolian and only the fertility goddess Isis and her son Horus remained
in the local Pantheon. Egyptian language disappeared except for a few loan
words.
The Slovaks' allies under Prince Odina, used to the lowlands of the
Crimea, took their spoils and moved westward to reunite with their countrymen
who had followed a more southerly route to what is today Thuringia where they
wrested some territory from the local Celtic tribe and tarried for a few
generations before the arrival of the Romans encouraged their movement
further north.
Best regards, John Piscopo
http://www.johnpiscoposwords.com
PO Box 137
Western Springs, IL 60558-0137
(708)246-7111