How the Anglo-Saxons Created Today's English Language

A Page From The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, 871A.D. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

England's English Before the Anglo-Saxon Invasion 

Around 6000 B.C., the land mass that we now call Great Britain was cast adrift from the rest of the European mainland, and the English Channel was formed. As Indo-Europeans migrated across the continent and discovered the island lying to the west, their words provided the foundations for several languages, detectable by their similar phonetics. For example, the English "mother" and "father" are "mutter" and "vater" in German, and "three" in English bears more than a passing resemblance to the French and Latin word for three, "tres." The Ancient Greeks adopted "tris" to denote the number. 

The Angles, Jutes, and Saxons Invade Roman Britannia 

By 500 B.C., the Celts were present across Europe, including on the island of Albion (Britain). Fast forward to circa 55-50 B.C., and a succession of Roman invasions saw the Celts or Britons displaced. The country fell under Roman rule from 43 A.D. for approximately 400 years. When the Roman Empire crumbled, the Romans of Britannia, their name for Albion, withdrew over time. The Romans were steadily replaced by the North Germanic and Jutland-based Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who invaded and conquered the Celtic and Briton people—who were either slaughtered or driven into the neighboring territories that we now know as Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, which the Romans had been unable to bring under their rule. 

 The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes brought their vocabularies with them on their warships, and countless West and North Germanic words were absorbed into the Celtic-Briton vocabulary. The three tribes were later better known as the Anglo-Saxons.

Anglo-Saxon runes were used until the introduction of the Latin alphabet. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

English as Englisc Formed

The 5th-century cultural shift from Roman to Anglo-Saxon words interspersed with surviving Celtic and Latin terms resulted in the conceptual English language. It was called Englisc, a term derived from the Anglo-Saxon name for England, Engla-land, or Angleland, "the land of the Angles" from Angeln in present-day Northern Germany.

The cleric and writer Bede wrote that the Saxons were dominant in the south of England, the Angles placed themselves in East Anglia, and the Jutes took control of Kent. He was largely correct. In the seven kingdoms in the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England, the Angles settled in East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria, the Saxons reigned in Essex, Wessex, and Sussex and the Jutes had Kent.

Four dialects emerged: Northumbrian, West Saxon, Mercian, and Kentish. Latin was only used by courtiers, aristocrats, and the church at this point in time.

An English Alphabet Change

Celts and Anglo-Saxons utilized an alphabet of runes comprised of characters, normally angular, that could easily be etched in wood or stone.

As Christianity reached Angleland, there was a widespread adoption of the Roman (Latin) alphabet, similar to today’s English one but consisting of only 21 characters. Bede, however, chose to write in Latin.

How to Identify an Anglo-Saxon Place Name

The Roman name for the northern England city of Manchester was Mamucium, but the Anglo-Saxons renamed it in 1086 as Mameceaster ("ceaster" meaning "camp"), and this word evolved over the centuries into Manchester.

Londonium, the Roman London became Londein(iu) in the Latin language, and in Anglo-Saxon was Lunden (sometimes Lundenwic), which later became London.

The most common clues for Anglo-Saxon place names are the following suffixes:

• -holt, meaning a forest

• -dun, a hill

• -bury, a fortification

• -ham, a farm

• -stead, a site

• -ton or -tun, a village or settlement

• -ing, meaning “the people of . . .”

• -ford, a river crossing

• -stoc or stoke, a wood or small settlement

• -wich or wick, a farm or enclosed space

• -ley, a wood

We Use Anglo-Saxon Words Today

Thousands of Anglo-Saxon words have survived the centuries, and modern terms can be derived from their vocabulary, including the following common words:

• Always

• Child

• Friend

• Kiss

• Lay

• Meal

• Needle

• Orchard

• Say

• Shadow

• Tall

• Thimble

• Want

• Word

• Yard

• Yes

From the Anglo-Saxon Old English came the Late Old English and Early Middle English languages. By 1100, the Early Middle English was being adapted via laws of grammar, anglicization, and the construction of sentences that made sense to others.

The English language grew richer with the addition of Greek, Viking and French-Norman words and less unruly. New words are always being added to our dictionaries, but it's nice to know that some of our most common words are old friends.

Sources

• English language | Origin, History, Development, Characteristics, & Facts | Britannica
  
• What are the origins of the English Language? | Merriam-Webster
  
• A brief history of the English language | Oxford International English Schools

Beatrix Potter: Beloved "Peter Rabbit" Author And Natural World Expert

First Edition, Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

 

Helen Beatrix Potter: Natural Scientist With A Creative Mind

Helen Beatrix Potter was born on the 28^th July 1866 in Kensington, London. She is best remembered for her stories about captivating characters including Jemima Puddle-Duck, Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tiggywinkle.

There's a lot more to learn about Beatrix. She was a keen natural scientist and mycologist, a fungi expert, conservationist, prizewinning sheep breeder, farmer, landowner and wife.

Beatrix Potter was born to affluent cotton printing trade heir and stock market investor Rupert Potter and his wife Helen who had a family tree that boasted a Baron Ashton. He was not only a relation of Beatrix's but an ancestor of Catherine, Princess of Wales and future queen.

Her younger brother Walter Bertram, known as Bertram, was almost 6 years younger than her. She was educated by governesses at home, 2 Bolton Gardens, West Brompton in London and she was often left alone with her pets and imagination.

From the age of 14 she kept a diary which she wrote in code so no one else could read it. She enjoyed lengthy holidays in Scotland and the Lake District in northwest England, an area that she later called home.

Potter's Fascination with Fungi

Long before Beatrix embarked on her writing career, she was absorbed by natural science and mycology, the study of fungi. She was a friend of the noted naturalist and amateur mycologist Charles McIntosh who she first met in 1892.

She illustrated countless fungi specimens and worked with the team at Kew Gardens, although she met with sexism there. She wrote confidently about spore germination and had her paper read at the Linnean Society in 1897. It was read on her behalf because women were not permitted to be members or to attend society meetings. The rejection of women in science greatly frustrated Beatrix.

Throughout her scientific endeavours the artistically gifted Beatrix and Bertram created unique greetings cards, particularly Christmas cards, and her illustrations of sweet creatures were bought and used in numerous publications. Bertram specialised in photography.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

When she was 27 years old (1893) Beatrix wrote and illustrated a story in a letter to Noel Moore, the sick child of one of her past governesses Annie Moore. Flopsy, Peter, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail Rabbits worked their magic and Annie told Beatrix that her story was be good enough to publish.

She finally decided to have the story privately published in 1901 under the title The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The following year the publishers Frederick Warne & Co. released the book to great commercial acclaim. Beatrix Potter wrote 30 books, 23 of them were her beloved children's stories to which she added irresistible merchandise from figures to board games.

Hill Top Farm in the Lake District

In 1905 Beatrix became engaged to Norman Warne, son of Frederick Warne. Sadly, he passed away a few months later. Beatrix retreated to the Lake District, purchasing Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey using her book royalties and inherited money.

Beatrix Potter was a quick learner and she became a capable farmer at Hill Top Farm. She and her farm manager bred cows, chickens, pigs and sheep. Beatrix worked with the farming community, championed advances in agriculture and husbandry and she established a local nursing association.

She contacted the local legal firm W.H. Heelis & Co. to purchase more pastureland and in 1909 she became the owner of Castle Farm which was opposite Hill Top Farm. She married William Heelis in October 1913. His legal practice survives to this day.https://www.templeheelis.co.uk/history/

The couple lived at Castle Cottage on Castle Farm. Tenants were installed at Hill Top Farm and Beatrix maintained her office and studio at Hill Top.

Beatrix Potter: Renowned Sheep Breeder

Beatrix's father passed away in 1914 and at the outbreak of World War 1 Helen, her mother, moved closer residing in Bowness by Lake Windermere. She died in 1932.

Beatrix's brother Bertram married and he took up farming in Scotland in 1902 but he kept his union from his parents for over a decade. When he learned of the marriage Rupert Potter was so horrified by his son's choice of bride, former mill worker Mary Welsh Scott that he wrote him out of his will. Bertram died in June 1918 aged 46 after suffering a stroke. Beatrix and Mary were close.

In the 1920s Beatrix became renowned for her Herdwick sheep breeding at another farm she purchased, Troutbeck Park Farm. Her herds won prizes at shows. She was soon a highly renowned judge of the breed at country shows.

In 1942 Beatrix Potter was appointed as the first ever female President Elect of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association. Tragically, she died before she could take on the role.

The world lost Beatrix to pneumonia and heart disease on the 22^nd December 1943 at Castle Cottage. Her work lives on in all her spheres of interest. William Heelis remained at Castle Cottage but he survived her by just 20 months.

She gifted Hill Top Farm and her other land purchases totalling over 4000 acres to the Natural Trust in her will. It was their largest ever donation at that time and preserved much of the Lake District National Park. The trust opened Hill Top Farm to the public in 1946 and it continues to maintain the land and properties. The headquarters of the National Trust are named Heelis in her honour.

Sources

• Beatrix Potter - Biography, Facts and Pictures
  
• Beatrix Potter: Peter Rabbit's Creator
  
• Beatrix Potter | British author | Britannica

Robert Liston: The Speedy Showman Surgeon Who Killed His Patients

Dr. Robert Liston FRCSE, FRCS, FRS, a quick and sometimes deadly surgeon. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

 

Robert Liston at the Edinburgh Infirmary

Robert Liston was born in Ecclesmachen in West Lothian, Scotland, on the 28th of October 1784. He lost his mother, Margaret, when he was six years old and was raised by his father, Henry, a minister and inventor.

He attended Edinburgh University and studied under acclaimed anatomist John Barclay. He then trained and, in 1818, qualified as a houseman (a junior doctor) at the Edinburgh Infirmary, but while doing so, he earned a reputation for being arrogant, sharp-tongued and unpopular. He barked and others quaked. His height of 6 feet 2 inches or 1.8 metres made him even more formidable to his colleagues.

His colleagues advocated removing him from the hospital wards because of his diabolical bedside manner. After a series of disagreements with his superior, Dr. George Bell, and his fellow physicians, he was dismissed in 1822, but he was reinstated in 1827. Within a year, Liston was promoted to the position of operating surgeon.

He was praised for his capabilities as a quick-handed surgeon in an age before anesthetic; he was able to complete a limb amputation within three minutes. Speed made the significant difference between a patient's life or death outcome and the pain they experienced.

"There was no object in being clean...Indeed, cleanliness was out of place. It was considered to be finicking and affected. An executioner might as well manicure his nails before chopping off a head."

— Royal Surgeon Sir Frederick Treves (1853-1923) on the subject of medical hygiene in Liston's era.

The Showman Surgeon: "Time Me Gentlemen!"

In 1833, he missed out on a promotion at the Edinburgh Infirmary and sought a new challenge. He relocated to London, and in 1834, he was elected as Professor of Clinical Surgery at the new North London Hospital in Camden, promptly renamed (not by him) the University College Hospital.

Hygiene was not deemed as important as it is in today's hospitals, so when Liston strode into the operating theatre and, surprisingly for that era, removed his frock coat, washed his hands and put on an apron prior to operations, he was set apart from his peers who happily hacked away at patients in blood-soaked sleeves. Very often, his work was watched by an eager crowd of spectators, which he loved. He was a showman at heart. He would frequently ask his audience to time him.

His still-conscious patient was afforded the luxury of a handkerchief to bite down on or to scream into as the surgeon performed his task. For an amputation, Liston was aided by one assistant or medical student who held the limb due to be amputated and another two medical students who ensured that the patient remained still on the operating table as the scalpel and saw cut through flesh and bone.

Liston's 28 Seconds Operation

His fastest operation was a staggering or terrifying twenty-eight seconds long.

During another of his rapid operations, Liston removed a forty-five-pound scrotal tumour from a man in just four minutes. The patient had been carrying the tumour around in a wheelbarrow prior to the procedure.

He completed an amputation and removed a patient's testicles within a two-and-a-half-minute procedure. Sadly, the testicles were not supposed to have been removed, but Liston's haste ensured that the man left his care without more than he'd anticipated.

Liston's mortality rate was one in six for the sixty-six amputations he carried out between 1835 and 1840. That was an improvement on the nearby St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which averaged one in four operations resulting in death.

A 300% Mortality Rate From a Single Amputation

Robert Liston is remembered for the swift operation that resulted in a 300% mortality rate. At first, it was a standard procedure for Liston. He carried out an amputation within two and a half minutes. However, as he wielded his scalpel, he cut through the coattails of a spectator who was terrified that he was injured and so he dropped dead. Liston also managed to cut the fingers off his assistant, who had been holding the limb during the amputation. The assistant and the patient died from infections within a few days.

As word got out about Liston's errors in haste, his theatre spectators and medical students aimed to be as far back as possible while observing his work. It was better to be safe than sorry.

There remain questions about whether this event occurred because no eyewitness accounts, if there were any, have survived. Truth or fiction, Liston's record of a 300% mortality rate has never been beaten. Let's hope that it never is.

Robert Liston's Legacy

On 21st December 1846, Robert Liston carried out the first ever publicly observed operation using ether at University College Hospital, London. He is also remembered as a medical writer and as the inventor of a thigh splint for use when the limb was dislocated.

Robert Liston believed that a good surgeon knew when not to operate and that surgical procedures had to be considered the last possible treatment options.

Aged fifty-three, he died from an aneurysm on the 7th December, 1847.

Sources

• Saints and Sinners: Robert Liston | The Royal College of Surgeons of England Bulletin
  
• Robert Liston – The Fastest Knife in the West End | Past Medical History
  
• 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Liston, Robert | Wikisource

People's Hero Dick Whittington, Lord Mayor of London

 

Dick Whittington, Lord Mayor of London, people's hero, folklore and pantomime legend.

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Dick Whittington: The Facts Versus the Myths

The rags to riches story of the Gloucestershire-born Dick (Richard) Whittington making his fortune in London has entertained people for centuries, particularly at Christmastime in Britain when his tale is turned into pantomimes performed in countless theatres.

We are told that the poor orphan Dick Whittington rises to become arguably the best-known Lord Mayor of London in history through perseverance, his enterprising cat, and the timely peal of the Bow Bells at London's St. Mary-le-Bow Church that he believes tell him not to turn his back on London, a city with streets "paved with gold."

Some people don't know that Dick Whittington was a real person, while others accept the theatrical version of his life as a fairly accurate biography. The 17th-century play The History of Richard Whittington, of his lowe byrth, his great fortune inspired pantomimes during the 1800s and informs the present-day offerings. The truth has been lost in folklore and embellishments.

Reality Check: Whittington Was Not a Poor Orphan

The real Dick Whittington was born in Pauntley, Gloucestershire, circa 1354. The Whittington's were part of the landed gentry, and Dick's father, Sir William Whittington, was a member of Parliament. Dick's mother was named Joan. She was the daughter of M.P. William Maunsell, a former sheriff of Gloucestershire. Dick's older siblings, Robert and William, were active in politics as adults.

As a third son, there was little hope of an inheritance, so Dick was sent to the City of London's prestigious Worshipful Company of Mercers (founded in the 12th century) to train as a merchant specialising in haberdashery.

The cat that Dick allegedly adopted on his way to London was a creation borrowed from a popular Persian story, presumably to flesh out Dick's story for theatre audiences. The story goes that he sells (or lends) the cat to his employer as a rat catcher on board one of his ships and that the employer is so impressed with the cat that he gives Dick some money and a promotion, which sets him on his path to greatness.

In truth, there has never been any evidence that Dick adopted a cat on the road to London or that a cat played a pivotal role at any stage in his life. Still, it makes for a good story.

Merchant, Money Lender and Lord Mayor of London

Dick Whittington was adept at selling wool, velvet and silk goods. His reputation and fortune rose. His client list included royals King Richard II, John of Gaunt and Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. The king's favourite Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, Duke of Ireland and Hugh Stafford, the 2nd Earl of Stafford, were regular customers.

Dick became a money lender in 1388. Richard II took a loan from him in 1397, and in 1399 when Richard was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke (King Henry IV), he, too, was well known to Dick as the recipient of several loans.

In 1384 Dick was appointed as a councilman in the City of London, and he was later promoted to alderman. In 1393 William Staundone, the Lord Mayor of London, promoted him to the role of Sheriff of the City of London. At around the same time, Dick became a member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers.

Staundone was succeeded by Adam Bamme. Bamme died in office in June 1397, and Dick Whittington was selected by King Richard II as the new Lord Mayor of London in an unprecedented step. It had traditionally been an elected role.

People's Champion, King's Trusted Servant

Dick persuaded the king to sell the governance of the City of London's lands back to the people for £10,000. Richard II had seized the lands for the crown seven years earlier. The king agreed, and Dick's popularity soared within the city—within weeks, he was elected lord mayor by the people.

In 1402 Dick Whittington married the heiress Alice FitzWaryn. The couple had no children, and Alice passed away in 1411.

Dick was reelected as Lord Mayor of London in 1406. In 1407 he served as the mayor of the Staple of Westminster, which was, in reality, the business district of Calais in France that was then in English hands.

Henry IV was succeeded by his son Henry V in March 1413. The new king employed Dick Whittington as a tax collector to monitor expenses for the ongoing building work at Westminster Abbey and as a judge for illegal loan trials.

Dick became a member of parliament in 1416; in 1419, Dick was again elected the Lord Mayor of London.

Dick Whittington Passes Into Legend

He was involved in numerous projects that were intended to benefit the City of London. He financed a home for unmarried mothers and construction work at the Guildhall. He commissioned a 128-seat public toilet known as Whittington's Longhouse and extensive drainage systems.

Dick Whittington died in March 1423. He left £7,000 (over £6 million in 21st-century values) to charities and organisations, including hospitals, libraries, Newgate Prison and several of London's almshouses.

He was laid to rest in St. Michael Paternoster Royal Church in the City of London on the south side of the altar close to Alice. In 1409 he'd paid for the reconstruction and extension of the church, and in his will, he bequeathed the funds to establish a priest college and an almshouse adjacent to the church.

His and Alice's tombs were lost during the Great Fire of London in 1666. In 1949 a search was carried out to locate the position of Whittington's remains. A mummified cat was discovered, but the cat was from the late 1600s and Sir Christopher Wren's reconstruction of the church.

Today, Dick Whittington is remembered at the Guildhall with a stained glass window and a statue. So too, is the cat synonymous with him.

Sources

• Dick Whittington | English merchant and politician | Britannica
  
• Dick Whittington: London's Most Famous Mayor | History Hit
  
• Whittington, Richard (d.1423), of London. | History of Parliament Online

Words of Greek Origin: How Greek Words Became English Words

 

An illustration of the Greek god Pan, inspiration for the word panic. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

The Many Greek Words In The English Language

The English language would be far less expansive without all the Greek words and word stems currently used. We often think that when we speak or write in English, our words are from old English, the Germanic Anglo-Saxon eras, Latin and Romance languages; we rarely consider the Greek language.

But yes, you've probably already spoken or written something that has Greek origins today without realising it.

Congratulations, you might say that you're multilingual.

• Every time you visit the cinema, you're in a Greek named place.
• Ever use an atlas? Again, that's a word with a Greek origin.
• Listen to music? That word has its basis in Greek mythology, and it relates to the nine muses.
• For the writers out there, how's your syntax?
• Did you have marmalade on toast today? Marmalade travelled via Portuguese into English.
• Don't panic! That word was inspired by the god Pan, who caused fear and anxiety in his enemies.
• Are you interested in the etymology of words? Etymology is derived from the Greek etumos.
• Are you a Pepsi drinker? According to Definitely Greece, Pepsi in Greek means digestion, and the inventor of the drink, Caleb Bradnam, believed that consuming it aided digestion, and thus, a mighty empire was inspired by a word.

The English language contains some 150,000 words with Greek etymology, but the exact number has never been established.

The Greek influence on English was less direct than the Germanic Anglo-Saxons and Roman infiltration, but it has been calculated that approximately 5% of English words used today come from Greek.

From Koine Greek Into English

Ancient Greek is a language that is long dead, but the modern Greek vocabulary was derived from Koine Greek—a popular dialect used throughout Greece and its territories. Koine means common, for all, or shared. Koine Greek has also been referred to as the Alexandrian dialect named in honour of Alexander the Great, Biblical Greek and Common Attic.

Greek is classified as an independent language in the Indo-European group and written records date back to 3400 BC. It was the first language to employ an alphabet containing consonants and vowels that totalled 24 characters.

Until 500–600 AD Greek was the most commonly used language across what we recognise as Europe today. Words often came to English via ancient European languages. Latin spilled from old English to middle English and survived into modern English and our everyday vocabulary.

A table showing the variants in the Greek alphabet.

Source: BiskkekRocks/Wikipedia CC3.0.

"It's All Greek to Me!"

In the 1950s Greek economist and later Greek Prime Minister Xenophon Zolotas proved how prominent the Greek language was by giving two speeches, the first in 1957 and another two years later. He gave them in English that, with the exception of articles and prepositions, was completely comprised of Greek words found in any 20th century English dictionary.

When was the last time that you used the phrase "crocodile tears?" Thousands of years ago the Greeks noted that crocodiles' eyes watered as they ate their prey leading to the popular English term for insincere tears.

Europa (sometimes referred to as Europe) was a mythical Greek Phoenician princess who was abducted by a besotted Zeus and they found themselves on the land mass which we recognise as Europe, hence its name.

From sycophant to idiot, schizophrenia to technophobia, sarcasm to cynicism and architect to thespian, we have a wealth of Greek terms and combined words at our disposal.

The Greek words for distant and sound were tele and phon. Of course, a telescope sees into the distance.

Someone who hates technology has technophobia, two Greek words combined.

Democracy comes from demos, the people and kratos, meaning power.

Acrobat is derived from akros meaning highest point and bainein, to walk.

Cemetery comes from the Greek term for a sleeping place: koimeterion.

20 Greek Stems for English Words

Greek stem words are more common than you might think. After a while and with a little knowledge you can spot a Greek origin word easily. This list contains just twenty of them:

1. Anti
2. Arch
3. Auto
4. Bio
5. Cyclo
6. Demo
7. Graph
8. Hydro
9. Macro
10. Mega
11. Metro
12. Micro
13. Mono
14. Para
15. Photo
16. Poly
17. Psycho
18. Thermo
19. Techno
20. Zoo

So, the last time you took a photo at the zoo or watched "Psycho" instead of washing your automobile you were partaking in some fluent Greek!

Sources

• How has Greek influenced the English language?
  
• English Words That Are Actually Greek
  
• List of Greek Words in the English Language

"The War Of The Worlds" 30th October 1938 Radio Broadcast Terrifies The U.S.A.

Orson Welles and the media on the day after the "War of the Worlds" broadcast.

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

The War of the Worlds: H.G. Wells and Orson Welles

How do you scare a nation in the 20th century? Convince American radio listeners that the Martians have landed in New Jersey and that the population is in peril. News bulletins interrupt a drama and the updates escalate from mildly concerning to terrifying.

No one would fall for it, or would they?

At 8 p.m. E.T. on the 30th October 1938, The Mercury Theatre On The Air radio show on the C.B.S. Network was directed by an ambitious and creative Orson Welles, then aged twenty three.

The episode, the seventeenth in the series, was based on The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, adapted by Howard E. Koch. It achieved panic, recriminations and an Oscar winning Hollywood career for Welles.

The announcer finished speaking and Orson Welles as the narrator of The War of the Worlds began his opening monologue. It was intended to create an atmosphere that made the listener receptive to what followed but no one imagined that their radio show with its modest amount of listeners would gain worldwide notoriety.

We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own...

— Orson Welles Opening Monologue, The War of the Worlds 1938.

Martians Land at Grovers Hill, New Jersey

As the broadcast continued it was interrupted by ever more dramatic news bulletins. The first said that an unusual explosion had been seen on Mars. Soon the centre of the activity was Grovers Mill in New Jersey where there were reports of an unrecognisable craft landing. (H.G. Well's novel was set in England but Koch moved the invasion across the Atlantic).

A subsequent bulletin featured a reporter at Grovers Mill. He stated that the craft was opening and that aliens were disembarking. Disastrously, when police officers held up a peace flag the aliens responded by annihilating them. The reporter fell ominously silent.

Some listeners began to panic; further bulletins revealed that military efforts to take control of the situation were proving unsuccessful.

Then, arguably the most horrifying element appeared: An eye witness informed listeners that in Manhattan people were fleeing for their lives, trying to outrun huge machines that repeatedly emitted a poison. The eye witness said nothing more after coughing a few times.

"I had conceived the idea of doing a radio broadcast in such a manner that a crisis would actually seem to be happening and would be broadcast in such a dramatized form as to appear to be a real event taking place at that time, rather than a mere radio play."

— Orson Welles.

Orson Welles Makes an On Air Confession

As the Martians marauded in Manhattan the show's producer John Houseman was told by C.B.S. bosses to take the program off the air. The audience thought fiction was fact and a number of listeners switched stations during a break in a rival radio program so they hadn't heard the beginning.

The police, clearly not busy coping with an alien invasion, appeared at the New York radio studios and they attempted to stop the show but they were denied access to the actors.

As the terror rose to intolerable levels for the listeners there was a commercial break, the first one that hour. Next, Orson Welles' voice was heard again, this time portraying a man caught in the pandemonium.

After a quarter of an hour on air he delivered a revelation: The Martians were dying because they couldn't withstand the microbes on Earth. The danger level fell slowly, the audience were not ready to believe that they were safe from alien "monsters".

Orson Welles concluded with a confession. The broadcast was a radio version of "dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying 'boo!'"

The War of the Worlds Causes a Death

The show was over and the police questioned the cast and crew about what had transpired and the hysteria it was causing. The station switchboards were besieged by calls from angry listeners.

C.B.S. announcers repeated that the show was a work of fiction and that they had told listeners this before the performance. Rival radio stations were ordered to announce that there was no Martian invasion and that the public were safe.

Everyone was escorted out of the C.B.S. building's back door to escape the reporters and photographers that were entrenched outside the front entrance. Orson Welles lost his bravado and he thought that his career was over.

The news was filled with reports of outrage and admonishments from the great and the good in the US. The media ran the story as though the entire population had been scared witless. It hadn't.

There were serious consequences for some; one man was said to have died from a heart attack during the radio show and there were several suicide attempts reported in the newspapers.

Hollywood Beckons Orson Welles

Orson Welles made an apology at a news conference on the 31st October. By this time he wasn't as contrite as he might have been. He was delighted by the substantial publicity.

Within months Orson Welles was in Hollywood and his Oscar winning screen career was arguably the result of the broadcast as much as his talent.

Orson Welles and H.G. Wells met one another in 1940. Well's asked Welles "Are you sure there was such a panic in America or wasn't it your Halloween fun?"

Part of Welles response was: "I don't think anybody believes that that individual is a ghost, but we do scream and yell and rush down the hall. And that's just about what happened."

Sources

• https://abcnews.go.com/US/80-years-orson-welles-war-worlds-radio-broadcast/story?id=58826359
  
• The Infamous "War of the Worlds" Radio Broadcast Was a Magnificent Fluke | History
• https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/TheWaroftheWorlds.pdf

 

Jupiter, Roman King of the Gods

 

The Roman king of the Gods, Jupiter, Jove, Luppiter at the Vatican. 

Image: Wikipedia/Biser Todorov CC4.0.

Jupiter, Luppiter, Jove

The first thing to know about Jupiter, Luppiter or Jove, the most powerful Roman god, is that he was borrowed, most notably from Greek mythology. That would explain why he is almost identical to the Greek god Zeus. He has also been compared to Tiwas in German mythology, Diespieter in Italy's lore, Thor in Norse myths and Sanskrit's Dyaus Pita, "Sky Father."

Luppiter as a name is derived from ancient Latin's lovis pater (pater being father) and the Indo-European term for father of the day, which sounded similar, dyeus pater. Dyeus evolved from diu, meaning to shine, be bright. The sky god or sky father is considered the most powerful god in several mythologies.

The Romans believed that Jupiter controlled daylight and weather conditions, most notably thunder, lightning and storms. When lightning struck any position or building in or around Rome, it was considered to have passed into Jupiter's ownership. A circular wall was constructed around the strike spot.

Symbolically, he is represented by a thunderbolt and an eagle. The Roman army used the eagle as their emblem. The oak tree is Jupiter's designated sacred tree.

Roman God of the Sky, Heavens and Justice

Jupiter was at the head of the powerful Capitoline Triad with Juno and Minerva as the guardians of the state. The Roman god of the sky and heaven held great political and judicial influence and was regarded as a god of protection, truth, social law and order. Most of his work was carried out on the Capitoline Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome.

His ordained day of the week was Thursday, hence the French word jeudi and the Italian giovedi, both references to Jupiter. The Latin phrase lovis dies translates as Jupiter's day. The English word jove came from Latin and the word jovial has its roots in Jupiter's other name and his happy manner. "By Jove" and other oaths to honour the god were sworn by Romans in court to confirm that their words reflected the truth. in the name of their head god. Later on, it was used as an exclamation similar to "my goodness."

Jupiter was certainly as virile as he was happy. His numerous romantic liaisons led to a myriad of children who played their own pivotal roles in Roman mythology, including Venus, Proserpine, Mercury, Minerva, Apollo and Diana.

How Jupiter Became the Supreme Roman God

Jupiter was the son of the sky god Saturn and Ops or Opis, the earth mother who was Saturn's sister. Saturn had apparently ousted their father Caelus (married to Terra Mater) to be the leader of the gods, and as he became more power-crazed, it was foretold that he would have a son who would displace him as the supreme god of all the Roman gods.

Saturn did not delight in the future predicted for him, so he devoured each of his children. However, when Jupiter was born, Ops hid him so that her latest arrival would not suffer the same horrific fate.

She presented Saturn with a rock wrapped in cloths instead of his son. When Saturn ate the rock, he was forced to eject each of his other swallowed children from within his body to survive. Having been raised in secret, Jupiter came out of hiding and completed his destiny, overthrowing his father. The latter fled into exile, ensuring his siblings were free from fatherly tyranny.

Jupiter's brothers Neptune and Pluto were charged with maintaining order in the sea and the underworld, respectively as he looked after the sky.

Flamen and Flamenica Dialis

Flamen Dialis, the highest-ranking member of the Flamines, a fifteen strong clerical order with a deity each to work for, was devoted to and served Jupiter. He and his wife, Flamenica ensured that a ram was sacrificed each market day in honour of their god. Lambs, castrated rams and oxen were used on other designated sacrifice days in the Roman calendar. During war, every animal born was offered as a sacrifice to the mightiest god.

Certain rules had to be adhered to so that Jupiter remained content. Flamen had his own chair, which was an honour, but he was forbidden from riding a horse outside Rome. He could not have any dealings with the dead. Flamen's hat, an apex, could only be removed when under a roof so that he wouldn't be thought naked as he showed himself to the sky. His wife did not escape from Jupiter's rules. Whenever there was thunder and/or lightning Flamenica was compelled to stop what she was doing to soothe Jupiter.

l, the oldest known temple constructed and dedicated to Luppiter Optimus Maximus (the greatest, best Jupiter) officially opened on the 13th September 509 B.C. The foundations remain in the 21st century. Triumphant armies returning from battle would march past this temple, Jupiter's most impressive, in gratitude for their military victories.

The Feast of Jupiter, the Roman Games, the appointments of court officials, the senate and priests fell annually on the 13th September in reference to the temple's opening date.

Also at the hill were the stones and pebbles known as lapides siciles used to worship him. The Jupiter Stone was the most sacred, and it was used when Romans swore the most solemn of oaths.

Although Jupiter's position in religion faded from the time that Christianity arrived, Roman rulers still allowed him to be viewed as a protective god. He survives in mythology, and today museums and ruins provide tourist attractions at Capitoline Hill.

Sources

• Jupiter (Jove) – Facts and Information on the God Jupiter
  
• Jupiter – Roman god | Britannica
  
• Jupiter (mythology) | New World Encyclopedia
  
• Zeus – Myths, Wife, Children, and Facts | Britannica

Where On Earth Was The Kingdom of Dumnonia?

The arms of patron saint St. Piran's family. Image: Wikipedia/Nicholas C. Public Domain.

The Kingdom of Dumnonia existed in southwest England between the 4th and 8th centuries. It encompassed what we know today as Devon, Cornwall, and parts of Somerset and Dorset.

The kingdom was populated by the Dumnonii (sometimes called Dumnones) tribe. They were feisty people with Bronze Age Celtic origins, and when the Romans arrived in the area, they found that the Dumnonians were unwilling to submit to their dominance. It seems that a deal was struck that afforded the Dumnonii a generous degree of self-government in return for cooperation with the new arrivals.

The Romans made the capital for the kingdom Isca Dumnoniorum, meaning "Water of the Dumnonii." This is the modern-day city of Exeter. It later moved west to Tintagel. Tintagel Castle was a primary domain of the legendary ruler King Arthur and his court, including Merlin, the sorcerer.

Dumnonia or Damnonia?

There isn't a definitive list of Dumnonian kings, but references in texts written by later luminary Geoffrey of Monmouth and the 6th-century monk and scribe Gildas suggested who ruled.

The intriguingly named Petroc Baladrddellt ap Clemen, Petroc the Splintered Spear, son of Clemen, and Geraint Llyngesic ab Erbin or Geraint the Fleet Owner, son of Erbin, were among them.

The Strathclyde area of Scotland was home to the Damnonii tribe, which was the name sometimes attributed to the residents of Dumnonia hundreds of miles to the south. The accepted spelling is Dumnonia for the English kingdom.

The confusion was due to Gildas (later St. Gildas), who used his writing to discredit King Constantine of Dumnonia and his predecessors by making a comparison between the kingdom and damnation.

The rulers were presented as biblical beasts, and Constantine was referred to as the "tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Damnonia" (Dumnonia).

Dumnonia ... was in ancient times inhabited by those Britains whom Solinus called Dunmonii, Ptolomee Damnonii, or (as we find in some other copies) more truly Danmonii. ... But ... the Country of this nation is at this day divided into two parts, known by later names of Cornwall and Denshire [Devonshire] ...— William Camden, 1607.

The Kingdom of Dumnonia, Anglo-Saxon West Wales

The correct etymology for Dumnonia is less judgmental. The Celtic words dubno and dumno meant "world" and "the deep." At the far west of the Dumnonian peninsula, the Cornovii tribe settled, and this is where the name "Cornwall" originated.

The Anglo-Saxons referred to Dumnonia as West Wales. This was additional to the Wales that we recognise today. Both areas contained Celts who spoke in Brythonic dialects.

The old English word for "foreigner" was waalsch from the Dutch language. To the Romans and Anglo-Saxons, the Celts were different, and their customs were foreign.

Life in Dumnonia and St. Piran's Importance

The people of Dumnonia survived by hunting, fishing, mining tin and copper, farming and agriculture. Tin mining had been conducted since pre-Roman times, and it flourished during the Roman era when trade links to other parts of the Roman Empire were formed. St. Michael's Mount acted as the port for trade; back then it was called Ictis.

The faith turned progressively towards Christianity as the Romans influenced the population of the kingdom. The most famous Cornish saint was St. Piran, an abbot who lived in the 5th century.

He became the patron saint of tin miners with the saint's day of 5th March, and numerous place names have his name as their inspiration (e.g., Perranporth). Perran is the Cornish language version of Piran. St. Piran's Cross at Perranzabuloe is the oldest stone cross in the southwest.

Dumnonia Becomes Cornubia, West of the River Tamar

Battles fought between Anglo-Saxon and Dumnonian armies resulted in Wessex's expansion into and annexation of Dumnonian territory. The campaigns of King Egbert of Wessex in the early 9th century sealed the kingdom's fate.

The Anglo-Saxons controlled modern-day Somerset, Dorset and Devon. The much smaller Dumnonia became Cornubia and later Cornwall. Devon, as a place name, evolved from Dumnon into Defnon and then Devon.

A rebellion in 838 failed to restore land to the Celts, and Donyarth, the last King of Dumnonia, died in 875.

In 936 King Aethelstan of England set the border between Cornwall and Devon along the north-south route of the River Tamar where it remains. The Cornish-speaking people call their country Kernow, and the Tamar Suspension Bridge over the river between Saltash in Cornwall and Plymouth in Devon is seen by independence campaigners as a defining point between the two nations. The indomitable Dumnonian spirit lives on.

Sources

• Devon | History, Population, & Facts | Britannica
  
• Dumnonii (Britons) | The History Files
  
• Dubno- and Dumno- in ancient proper names | Roman Era Names