george knysh wrote:
>
> *****GK: Just exactly which "homeland" did the Slavs
> lose "due to the activities of Goths and Huns"?*****
Ahahha. George you want me to show you the "homeland" of the Slavs?
>
> *****GK: Well Vlachs are initially mentioned South of
> the Danube only (by contemporary sources). And only
> 200 years later do we have mentions of them North of
> the Danube.. Incidentally perhaps you might focus on
> the spread of Christianity among the Vlachs (and
> Romanians) as an indicator of their history.
Which won't tell us too much. Just the organisation of the church has
slavic terms but the whole religious stuff has nothing to do or does not
show any trace of Slavic in this beside the word "duh" (spirit). The
therminology is indeed mostly Latin and this could not come trough Slavs
or Greek. In this way we can keep just the right conclusion: the
christian terminology in Rom. Lang was entering the language prior Greek
language took the overhand. And this will speak for a christianisation
of the valachs in the time as Latin was still the language of the
churrch / administration in Balkan.
> The
> "official" view is I think that the Romanians
> converted to Christianity in the latter stages of the
> Roman Empire.
The linguistic arguments point to this conclusion. Since the terminology
is neither Slavic nor Greek but Latin, then this is the only conclusion
which can be safe assumed.
> I understand that there are no Greek loan
> words for religious or pastoral terms.
There are not Slavic words too into respect of religios terms too.
> All this tells
> me that the ancestors of the Romanians did not live
> close to centers of either Latin or Greek
> Christianity.
I agree with the conclusion but it can be kipped by the fact there are
not Slavic loans into the religios terms. On the basis of your way to
see the things, then the Vlachs have not been in the area of Slavic
influence either.
> Paradoxically this rules out the
> "flatlands" around the Danube. The remote mountainous
> areas are better suited to a population with such a
> "late" Christian start.
I guess after all explained here, you will think more about the word
"late" regarding the "Christian start". The question which it oughts to
be put is " where has been no Greek and Latin centers of influence"? On
another hand the Albanians are kept as having lived too for long time
somewhere in the mountains. However, their christian therminology is of
Westroman descendence, so the mountains you speak about become no
impediment anymore.
> But which ones? The historical
> records settle this in favour of the South methinks.
This is just an interpretaion of not having records for north of Danube.
> The Pechenegs and Magyars cut off Bulgaria from its
> Trandanubian possessions at about the same time that
> it experienced a flowering of Slavonic religious
> culture.*****
And that should be an another paradox. Assuming the existence of the
transdanubian possesion of the Bulgarians, we agree there should have
been a strongly slavic christianity. The events of Pecenenegs and Magyar
should have maybe cutted it but never changed it to what it is today. In
fact all these do not fit because there are just erronate assumptions
which cannot fit together.If one gives no penny on the epic story from
Oguzname, one should wonder wbout the "unknown country called Balak
which is situated north of the country of Bulgars". This description is
the one given in Geographia of armenian Moses Chorenatsi and was written
in the second half of the IX century. I won't speak here about "missing
evidences" but I will speak here about "evidences which does not fit a
certain assumption". To sume up about "missing evidences":
- Geografia of Chorenatsi ( begining with 850)
- Map of Klaproth ( map of year 912)
- Chronicle of Nestor
- Gesta Hungarorum
ยด
I know you have your opinion about Chronicle of Nestor where you like to
see a projection of events which happened in the time of Romans with the
events wich occur with comming of Hungarians ( I wondered which is the
role of the Slavs in that region in the time as the Romans conquered it)
but the chronicle of Nestor is not standing alone there as you see.
Alex