Re: Bow and arrow

> >
> > Which is enough for me to suspect they these archers were
> descended
> > from Nordwestblock peoples arriving in England with the Saxon
> > invasion.
> >
>
> You mean that their language and skills derive from immigrants of
> the continent, which is not precisely the same thing.

Seems to me you're imagining a situation similar to today, where an
immigrant would be immediately swamped (ideally) by the Englishness
(or similar -ness) of the place. Actually they were part of an
invasion, but must have served as a lower class. Kuhn found traces of
that instituton in Nordwestblockland. They were not immigrants
leaving a mark, they were part of the definition. That's why I think
there was such a difference in the attitude of the 'plebs' being
armed I think. Would AngloSaxons have trusted Celts enough to arm
them?

>However
> firstly your theory ignores the possibility of arms race being the
> case (the English developed better bows, and encouraged the
> peasantry to practice and compete).

And why is that, was the question.

>Secondly, I would think the most
> obvious period for NWBlok entrance into Britain would have been the
> Belgae (perhaps = Fir Bolg in Ireland) who fled the Romans.

Yes, if they should have made up a free component of British society.
And the Fir Bolg were Celts, the NWBlock people wasn't. I would think
the most likely period for the NWBlock people to enter Britain would
be after their societies were overrun and Germanicised by their
Eastern ex-Jastorf neighbors.

>Thirdly, why would Eastern Germanic contain a word from NW Europe?

Good question. In order for that to happen, the *ark- stem would have
had to be part of the language expanding out of Thuringia, which is
not a totally unlikely proposition. The -azna part of the Gothic word
also sets it apart from the other Germanic occurrences.

Torsten