Re: [tied] Re: The Normans and their language

Steve Woodson wrote:

> Pannonia at this time wasn't heavily populated. Deserta was often used to
> describe it, not because it was a desert but because of its low population.
> Though Slavs lived there they may have been in the minority to the Magyars.

I'm not sure how the original Magyar nomads were supposed to look like, but I would
expect that their facial features were different from those of average Slavs.
However, you will not see the difference when you compare modern Hungarians with
their Slavic neighbors (e.g. Serbs), which suggests that the admixture of Slavic
blood was relatively high. Of course, it could happen gradually during the last
millennium and the effect on the language would be minimal.

> Why was their fate different from the others? Christianity. After their
> defeat at the Lechfeld they converted to Christianity. Stephen was crowned king
> and had the protection of the Empire.

This makes sense. However, the Bulgars also converted to Christianity and despite of
that they forgot their language.

Michal