RE: :what is the meaning of "ad hoc query"?

Eric,
Sorry for the delay in responding.

1.) I am sort of at my limit of knowledge of Normans. My understanding, however, is that after a couple of generations in the 10th century, the Vikings became fluent speakers of French (I don't know about cultural influences. Anybody out there know this?). My feeling is that when they invaded England it was more as French than as Norwegians.

2.) I also found some stuff about Denmark and Norway. Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, is the parent from which all modern Scandinavian languages descend. By the 14th century, the dominant Scandinavian languages were certain dialects of Denmark and Sweden, surpassing West Norse of Norway ("helped on its way by a Swedish royal house
(after 1319) and the Black Death (1349) which all but wiped out its most
literate class, the monks adn priests"). By 1537 Danish became the official language of Norway. The rise of nationalism in Europe through the 19th century led to a change. "West Norse had been moribund for centeruies; Danish was the official written language used by the educated urban population. Two solutions were proposed, either to make Danish more Norwegian in its spelling, or to invent-better still, recreate- the old Norwegian." Both were adopted. Norway has two official languages:Bokmal 'Book Language' reflect Danish influence and is the more commonly written and spoken, Nynorsk 'New Norwegian' is taught in schools but is most commonly used in rural districts.

I also had some questions on the article on the evolution of English and the Scientific Revolution, but I'll have to get back to those later.

Henry

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric D. Pierce [mailto:PierceED_at_csus.edu] Sent: Friday, November 17, 2000 2:46 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Subject: RE: :what is the meaning of "ad hoc query"?

Henry,

Thanks for the excellent material.

Two additional questions:

1. so, the implication is the Normans were a cultural "bridge" between french and english due to their presence in both countries?

(this would appear to be supported by the material at the following
outstanding web page: http://exile.ne.mediaone.net/lucas/EME.html , see excerpts below.)

2) I have a vague recollection of reading that vikings were from what is now Denmark. What is the historical relationship (if any) between Danish and Norwegian influences in france and england?
(I've heard norwegians claim that they were somewhat unpleasantly
colonized by swedes, but I think that hapened much later than the norman occupations.)

regards, Received on Mon Nov 27 2000 - 13:19:57 CST