--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, Marco
Cimarosti <marco.cimarosti@...>
wrote:
> Etaonsh wrote:
> > The enlightenment I was
referring to
> > earlier (and which the vagaries
of
> > the 'Reply' mechanism failed to
> > refresh) which comes from
learning
> > Irish (and other Celtic
languages)
> > comes from the juxtaposition of
> > Celtic languages and English,
> > incuding its history. Too long
have
> > old academic traditions of
bigotry,
> > racism and subservience to
Empire
> > obscured the underestimated
Celtic
> > influence in the modern world's
> > lingua franca (not to mention
other
> > modern lnguages). [...]
>
> It's funny how things may look
completely different in different
parts of
> the world. As a citizen of Italy,
leaving in the Lombardy region (in
> Northern Italy, where Milan is), I
rather instinctively associate
racism
> with the OVER-estimation of the
Celtic influence in modern European
culture
> and languages.
>
> Of course, the poor Celts (either
ancient or modern) are absolutely
not
> guilty for this situation, no more
than ancient Indians are guilty for
> inventing the swastika and the
word "Aryan". But it is a matter of
fact that
> the sub-culture of most fascist
and xenophobic movements in Europe
is based
> on misunderstood "Celtic" myths.
>
> For example, the symbol of most
fascist and nazi groups in Italy,
France and
> elsewhere is the "Celtic Cross". A
"Celtic Cross", per se, is an
absolutely
> innocent symbol: just a cross with
a circle in the middle
>
>
Nothing to do with astrology, then?
>
>
a traditional
> religious symbol of Celtic people,
which is easily seen in the
cemeteries
> and churches in the British isles
and Bretagne. But, voilà, this
symbol is
> "Celtic", so it became the flag of
all the nazis crawling on the
continent's
> surface.
>
> Here in Lombardy, there is a
racist and xenophobic political
party (now
> sitting in the Government with
other parties of fascist descent,
damn 'em
> all!), whose ideology is more or
less this: Northern Italians (or
"Padani",
> in their newspeak) are a "superior
race", compared to Southern Italians
> other "Mediterranean races",
because they are direct descendants
of the
> Celts who inhabited Northern Italy
before the "Roman invaders"
conquered the
> place imposing their taxes and
corrupted habits.
>
> The linguistic side of this
Gaulish madness is that these people
are
> seriously convinced that Northern
Italian dialects (typical romance
> languages, resembling Italian and
French) are "Celtic languages".
Italian
> linguistic newsgroups are polluted
by these guys with their incredible
> pseudo-etymologic "demonstrations"
of the Celticness of Milanese or
Venetian
> dialects.
>
>
Hard to comment without examples.
I'd like to think that the Celts who
lived in Italy didn't do so without
leaving a trace in the language,
myself.
I'm not sure we are all that
different, after all, Marco. Our
Paddies sometimes seem a touch, well
- uncool, provincial, fighting over
shit, the provincial/poverty complex
which makes people bigots, don't
matter what side. Or is that unfair?
Richard in London