History shows that Britain has always been multilingual

historyanalysisThe Conversation: Arts + Culture (US)pre-Roman to medieval · Britain

History shows that Britain has always been multilingual

the gist

Britain has never been monolingually English. Before the Romans arrived, the island's inhabitants spoke several Celtic languages, the ancestors of modern Welsh, Cornish, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic, and Pictish, which is now extinct. Old English came with Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th and 6th centuries, and Old Norse from Viking settlers and Frisian from traders reshaped it further. The Norman Conquest brought Norman French, which became the language of government and law and gave English many pairs of words such as cow and beef, with the French version carrying higher status.

so what

Modern English vocabulary is a layered mix of these contacts, and everyday words such as kid, egg, skirt and law come from Old Norse or French. The history shows that linguistic mixing is the norm, not a recent change. It is useful context for debates about languages in Britain today.

fun fact

Welsh borrowed the Latin word for book, llyfr, from liber during the Roman period.

The Conversation

Illustrative photo · Celtic_expansion_in_Europe.svg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

source: The Conversation: Arts + Culture (US) ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗