Finding the Origin of a Language

 There are more than five thousand languages known to be spoken in the world. Is there a common beginning to all of these?  Has there ever been a time when only one language was spoken? According to bible, the people of Babylon started building a tower that would reach up to heaven. This was so offensive to God that he obliterated the unity of their language, creating a language that was not understood by the people. Scholars through time have tried to trace the languages to a mother tongue.  By studying the world's great language families, such as Indo-European, the family that includes English This source connects different language families.  And by tracing these commonnalities, such as Indo-European, and by tracing the Indo-European languages back, from which all of the language families have derived.

There are some obvious connections among languages. In Arabic and Hebrew the counting system in each language are similar. Some numbers sound almost identical.

 Sanskrit resembles in certain ways, Greek and Latin and other languages. Certain similarities are striking apparent. The numbers, in English, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit are noticeably alike in all the languages.

By finding patterns, different languages can be grouped together as members of a language family. Finding organized similarities between these languages in areas of their grammar, similarities in their sounds, in their inflections, in the syntax of the language is what linguists faced with. And the similarities have to be very specific, and they have to link to show that these languages form a family.

With a comparative method, linguists have been able to establish the connections among a group of languages from Iceland to India. This group of about one hundred languages is called the Indo-European Family of Languages. Each of these languages can be traced to one of ten individual languages.

 The subgroups of families, that are still spoken today, are Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Albanian, Hellenic, Armenian, and lastly, Indo-Iranian. By looking at the Germanic family, it can be seen how it has evolved into different languages, until find the ones we use today, like Swedish, Danish, English, and Dutch. By studying all the languages in this group, linguists can narrow it down to a mother tongue.

 Linguists look at the current language, and try and find other languages that are related to it, that descend from the same predecessor, and by this act of comparison, try and trace back through time. This is an enormous endeavor, because languages can change in very unpredictable ways, and linguists have to look beneath the surface and find the unity that the languages had before they diverged from each other.

The Muses of Greek Mythology

The Muses were brought to life to make the world forget evil and relieve sorrows and to praise the gods, and their victory over their ancestors, the Titans. Apollo was the main teacher of the Muses.  

They were usually accompanying him and the  and loved singing and dancing while Apollo was playing the lyre.

The home of the Muses was Mount Helicon in Central Greece, a mountain that was sacred to the Greek god Apollo, the Greek god of the music, the light and the sun. Their sanctuary was in Pieria.

The nine muses were the childfren of Zeus and his aunt, Titaness Mnemosyne, Memory. The specific functions of individual goddesses,that they are usually associated with are: Clio – History; Euterpe - Music and lyric poetry; Thalia – Comedy; Melpomene – Tragedy; Terpsichore – Dance; Erato - Love poetry and marriage songs; Polyhymnia - Sacred song and oratory; Urania – Astronomy and Calliope - Epic or heroic poetry.

In ancient times, all learning was under the benefaction of the Muses, and they were the inspirers of poetry, music, and art. It was common for schools to have a shrine to the Muses, and any place dedicated to them was known as a mouseion, the translation of our word museum.

The famous Museum at Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy I, was a temple of learning dedicated to them. As a custom, before poets or storytellers would recite their work, they first appealled for the inspiration and protection of the Muses.

The Name of the Planets and Mythology

With the exception of Earth, all of the planets in our solar system have names from Greek or Roman mythology. This tradition was continued when Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were discovered in more modern times.

Mercury also called Hermes, was the god of commerce, travel and thievery in Roman mythology. The planet received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.

Venus  or Aphrodite was the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The planet is probably  named so because  it is a brilliant  and  beautiful sight in the sky, only outshone by the Moon and the Sun.

Earth, Gaia, is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology. The name derives from Old English and Germanic. There are many other names for our planet in other languages.

Jupiter, Zeus was the King of the Gods in mythology, making the name  aptly for what is by far the largest planet in our solar system.

Mars  or Ares was the god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its red  coloring.

Saturn, Cronus, was the Roman god of agriculture.

Uranus is the ancient Roman deity of the Heavens, the earliest supreme god.

Neptune, Poseidon, was the Roman god of the Sea. Given the beautiful blue color of this planet, one can understand the name .

Pluto, Hades, was the Roman god of the underworld in Roman mythology. The planet  possibly received this name because it's so far from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness.

The moons have been known for a long time , and so the names were assigned from mythological characters. For example, the moons of Jupiter were named for those who had roles in the life of Zeus, the Greek mythology counterpart of the Roman God Jupiter.

Medusa

                                                                     

Medusa was one of three of the monstrous sisters known as the Gorgons. They had wings, sharp metallic claws, huge boar-like tusks, and serpents for hair. A look at any one of them would turn men into stone. While her sisters were immortal, Medusa was not. Their parents are the monsters Echidna and Typhoon.

Medusa was once very beautiful. However, she brought on the wrath of Athena after laying with Poseidon in one of Athena’s, the war-goddess, temples. Athena turned her into a Gorgon. Medusa retreated to live with her sisters in a cave at the entrance the Underworld, land of the dead. King Polydectes of Seriphus sent Perseus to slay the Medusa and bring back her head, hoping he would perish so that the king could marry Perseus' mother Danae.

Perseus succeeded in killing Medusa with the aid of Athena and Hermes. The goddess equipped Perseus with the tools he needed to defeat Medusa and he returned with Medusa's head. When he discovered the plot of King Polydectes he used the head of Medusa to turn him and his guests into stones. Her head was later adorned the aegis of Athena's.

When Perseus cut off her head, the winged horse Pegasus leapt from the bloody neck of the slain Medusa . Also the outcome of her death  the hero Chrysaor was born.

The Arthurian Legend

The Arthurian knights, who sat with King Arthur around a circular table, became a fellowship between knights. Some of them are famous as heroes and champions of just cause; however, jealousy, envy and hatred existed within the fellowship. There were enemies within the Round Table as well as those who were not member of the fellowship. The knights were usually of noble birth: they were usually kings and princes, dukes, counts or earls and barons. They formed the strong point of the army. When the knights attend a festival or council at the king's main hall, those who sat at the head of table, usually had precedence over others. These knights would feel envy or jealousy to those of higher ranking. To resolve these problems, Arthur resorted to having his table constructed in a rounded shape. The ingenuity of this design, make all the knights equal, regardless if he was a king or a lower cast baron. No one would have precedence over others. The knights in Arthur's company became known as the Knights of the Round Table. These knights were heroes, renowned for their strength and courage, and for their skill in combat and warfare. So the Round Table actually began as a more of a tradition. With the quest for the holy Grail romance becoming more firmly rooted in the Arthurian legend, the Round Table became directly linked with the Grail. The table did not become just furniture to seat Arthur's knights, nor was it to solve a problem of precedence between knights. When  king  Uther died, the Round Table was passed on to King Leodegan of Camelide, one of his allies and the father of Guinevere. When Arthur married Guinevere, Leodegan gave the Round Table to Arthur as a wedding gift, along with one hundred knights of Leodegan. The Round Table could seat 150 knights, it was Merlin who help Arthur to chose the last fifty knights. Each seat had the name of knight magically written on the back of the seat, in letters of gold. One seat, however, remained unoccupied until the Grail knight  and the best knight would be seated  there; this seat was known as the Siege Perilou s. Arthurian legend (in the 13th-14th century), there was only one seat left vacate, that was the seat that no other knights could sit upon: the "Siege Perilous". Only one of the seats was left vacat. The Siege Perilous was reserved for the true Grail knight, and would remain unoccupied until the Grail hero appeared. Anyone who sat on it would be killed.  The Round Table was very much the symbol of Arthur's power as was his sword Excalibur and his castle abode Camelot.  The true Grail hero must be knight with the purest heart, who was not only chaste, but also a virgin without sins. That knight was Galahad, the son of Lancelot, the only knight allowed understanding of the mystery of the Holy Grail. The Fellowship of the Round Table was very much like the knightly orders of the medieval world. The military orders had begun during the First Crusade. They were intended to care for the sick pilgrims and the wounded knights whom fought the Muslims. The first two orders were established on the Holy Land.  Other orders were established, sometimes by rulers. In Germany, the best known order was Teutonic Order (1189-1525).    Arthur had never established  rules and heraldic designs upon his knights. Each wore knight wore what armor or shield they choose. Some knights wore design upon their shields  where they could be recognized. Often a knight would wear one of the colors, the most common being white, black, red, green and blue. Perceval was usually seen as the Red Knight, because the untrained youth had killed a Red Knight that had spilled wine on Queen Guinevere. The great hero Lancelot wore any armor and shield he was given, due to the fact that he like to travel incognito, so no one would recognize him. Especially when he was on an adventure or participating in the tournament. Lancelot started out being knighted as a White Knight, where the Lady of the Lake provided his armor and weapon, but he changed his armor many times, so he was also the Red Knight, Green Knight and then Black Knight. Shields sometimes had portraylas of animals, sometimes of the crown or sword. Other times, the shield had only one colour or sometimes they had a stripe or two. Arthur carried a shield with image of the Virgin Mary into battle.  The table was more than a dowry of Guinevere. In a way, Guinevere symbolized the kingdom of Logres (Britain). Arthur, who was Logres king, was not only wedded to Guinevere; he became wedded to the land. This link between the rulers who were wedded the land was common themes. The results of the Quest, when the Grail vanished from the world, it also meant the withdrawal of God's grace from Logres. Though the enchantment on Logres was broken and the Maimed King healed, the salvation did not come to the Brotherhood of the Round Table. Instead they were punished for their failings and their sins. One of the most notable deteriorating part of the Round Table was that Lancelot the greatest knight in the world, was in love with Queen Guinevere. Lancelot and Guinevere had committed adultry, tainting the honour of the Round Table. Arthur's war against Lancelot had split the Round Table into two factions, and left him weakened when Mordred betrayed him. Another failing was Mordred, who also belonged to the Round Table, and was born as the result of incest, between Arthur and his half-sister Morgawse. Mordred would allow his own lust for power and his father's wife Guinevere, to seize the kingdom during Arthur's absen Their sins would bring about the downfall of the Round Table and end the imperfect dreams of Arthur and Merlin.

In the end, the final betrayal was adultery committed by one of its members, Lancelot, with Arthur's queen, and the betrayal of  Mordred Arthur’s son born of adultery on his part; that finally brought the downfall of Arthur's kingdom