My ancestors were all cattle thieves, and by Dog, we were good at it ! ! !
In fact, we've even got our own little ditty about
Táin Bó Cuailnge, old Cooley's Cattle Raid . . .
Europe is truly a melting pot. Swedes, in general, may be more often blond and light skinned than Greeks, but you can find different types of people in all countries (especially Flanders, for obvious reasons.)
It's interesting to see the ancient origins of 'peoples', but it's not very relevant anymore.
Not to be rude, FL, but would Leuven be a city whose name i might recognize if it were spelled Louvain?
Setanta wrote:Not to be rude, FL, but would Leuven be a city whose name i might recognize if it were spelled Louvain?
Ha, since I've been there, I even know the spelling 'Löwen' (that's the place, where "bodies of dead Vikings blocked the run of the river" in September 891 according to the Fulda annals )
Does not löwen mean "lion" in English?
Setanta wrote:Not to be rude, FL, but would Leuven be a city whose name i might recognize if it were spelled Louvain?
Indeed. 'Louvain' is the French (and English) spelling and pronunciation.
Walter Hinteler wrote:(that's the place, where "bodies of dead Vikings blocked the run of the river" in September 891 according to the Fulda annals )
Legend has it that Leuven's flag was created like this because of a battle against the Vikings in 891. The battle was so fierce, that the following day the banks of the Dijle (which runs through Leuven) were red because of all of the blood. Hence the red-white-red pattern of the flag.
Big Hello to Setanta. Hope you stick around a while. I've missed you.
On my fathers side I go back to Scotland, Abercorn and Dalkeith in Midlothian, which being in the south and during the rise of David, indicates an Anglo-Norman descent. However, my ancestors eventually became highland borderers and took the form of a clan, indicating some difficulty in determining ancestory based on geographic settlement.
Setanta wrote:Does not löwen mean "lion" in English?
Leuven - Lovanium - Louvain - Löwen - Lovanio - Lovaina - Lovere - Lovon
Löwen/Leuven/Lovere/Lovon ... means 'lion'
so we take that as a yes then. Thanks Walt
Sooo, our resident Dlowan rabbit is part lion? That certainly makes sense and explains a lot!
Walt-You sure do know your languages!! :wink:
squinney wrote:Big Hello to Setanta. Hope you stick around a while. I've missed you.
On my fathers side I go back to Scotland, Abercorn and Dalkeith in Midlothian, which being in the south and during the rise of David, indicates an Anglo-Norman descent. However, my ancestors eventually became highland borderers and took the form of a clan, indicating some difficulty in determining ancestory based on geographic settlement.
Hey my wife's mother comes from near Dalkeith.
Random question regarding the Celts here: why do some people assume someone is Irish when their surname begins with a "Mc" and Scottish when their surname begins with a "Mac" ----can't it go both ways for either group?
*confused*
I came up w/ this question when someone in this forum posted something about Scotland.
Do you mean to imply that the English, French, and others have ancestors? WOW!
According to "Brian Thomson Scot Roots", both 'Mc' and 'Mac' were
were originally used in Scottish Gaelic interchangeably for "son of".
And "the idea that Mac is Irish and Mc Scottish is just another popular error".
see:
The Distortion of Irish Surnames [although this is exactly the other way around as what you quote].
A-HA! That explains it all.
Thanks for the response and informative link, Walter.
Well i'll be go to Hell, a rare Mapleleaf sighting . . .
My father-inlaw name has a Mac. During the first world war, his father's name was listed as Mc in error. It was later corrected. They have a Scottish Gaelic heritage.
