Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982)


Artur Rubinstein (1887-1982)

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American classical pianist who received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers; many regard him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time. He is widely considered one of the greatest classical pianists of the twentieth century.


Quotes·Quotation

Attitude

¶ If I omit practice one day, I notice it. If two days the critics notice it. If three days the public notices it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rubinstein

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)


Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Arthur Schopenhauer (22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal world.

Schopenhauer's most influential work, The World as Will and Representation, claimed that the world is fundamentally what humans recognize in themselves as their will. His analysis of will led him to the conclusion that emotional, physical, and sexual desires can never be fully satisfied. The corollary of this is an ultimately painful human condition. Consequently, he considered that a lifestyle of negating desires, similar to the ascetic teachings of Vedanta, Buddhism and the Church Fathers of early Christianity, was the only way to attain liberation.

Schopenhauer's metaphysical analysis of will, his views on human motivation and desire, and his aphoristic writing style influenced many well-known thinkers, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Otto Rank, Carl Gustav Jung, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Mann, and Jorge Luis Borges.


Quotes·Quotation

Marriage

¶ To marry is to halve your rights and double your duties.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer

Arthur Cleveland Coxe (1818-1896)


Arthur Cleveland Coxe (1818-1896)

Arthur Cleveland Coxe DD LLD (May 10, 1818 – July 20, 1896) was the second Episcopal bishop of New York. He used Cleveland as his given name and is often referred to as A. Cleveland Coxe.


Quotes·Quotation

Flower

¶ Flowers are words which even a baby can understand.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Cleveland_Coxe

Arthur Helps (1813-1875)


Arthur Helps (1813-1875)

Sir Arthur Helps, KCB, DCL (10 July 1813 – 7 March 1875), English writer and dean of the Privy Council, youngest son of Thomas Helps, a London merchant, was born in Streatham in South London.

He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, coming out thirty-first wrangler in the mathematical tripos in 1835. He was recognized by the ablest of his contemporaries there as a man of superior gifts, and likely to make his mark in later life. As a member of the "Conversazione Society", better known as the Cambridge Apostles, a society established in 1820 for the purposes of discussion on social and literary questions by a few young men attracted to each other by a common taste for literature and speculation, he was associated with Charles Buller, Frederick Maurice, Richard Chenevix Trench, Monckton Milnes, Arthur Hallam and Alfred Tennyson.

Soon after leaving the university Arthur Helps became private secretary to Thomas Spring-Rice (afterwards Lord Monteagle), then Chancellor of the Exchequer. This appointment he filled till 1839, when he went to Ireland as private secretary to Lord Morpeth (afterwards Earl of Carlisle), Chief Secretary for Ireland. In the meanwhile (October 28, 1836) Helps had married Bessy Fuller, daughter of Captain Edward Fuller and Elizabeth Blennerhassett. Bessy's maternal grandfather, Rev. John Blennerhassett of Tralee, Co. Kerry, was the cousin of Harman Blennerhassett.

He was one of the commissioners for the settlement of various claims relating to the Gunboat War dating as far back as 1807. In retaliation for the bombardment of Copenhagen, the Danish government had impounded British goods in warehouses, and merchant ships with their cargoes. Although the seizure of goods on land had been settled soon afterwards, the ship-owners were still fruitlessly pursuing their claims for compensation from the British Government as late as 1861. However, with the fall of the Melbourne administration (1841) Helps' official experience closed for a period of nearly twenty years. He bought the Vernon Hill estate near Bishops Waltham, Hampshire, and a private income allowed him to turn to writing books and plays, which he dictated to an amanuensis.

He was not, however, forgotten by his political friends. He possessed admirable tact and sagacity; his fitness for official life was unmistakable, and in 1860 he was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council on the recommendation of Lord Granville. This appointment brought him into personal communication with Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, both of whom came to regard him with confidence and respect. In 1864 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from Oxford University.

In 1862 he established the Bishops Waltham Clay Company for the manufacture of bricks and terracotta. He was also involved with the Bishops Waltham Railway Company, set up to link the brickworks (and the town) with the main London-Southampton line. However, profits were small and he faced competition from the Staffordshire Potteries. Helps also financed the Coke and Gas works which lit the town from 1864.

Helps was also affected by the banking panic of 1866, caused by the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company. It had invested heavily in long-term railway stocks rather than holding cash reserves. The brickworks went into liquidation in 1867, and Helps had to sell the Vernon Hill estate. Queen Victoria in a personal gesture (he had edited a volume of Prince Albert's speeches in 1862) offered him a grace and favour residence in Kew Gardens. He lived for the rest of his life in Queen Charlotte's Cottage, near the main gates.

He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1871 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the following year. He died of pleurisy on 7 March 1875.


Quotes·Quotations by Arthur Helps

Writing·Reading

¶ Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Helps

Arthur Cody Jarrett (White Heat)


Arthur Cody Jarrett from White Heat (1949)


Quotes·Quotation by Arthur Cody Jarrett

James Cagney as Arthur Cody Jarrett from White Heat (1949)

¶ Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- )



Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- )

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger ( /ˈʃwɔrtsənɛɡər/; German: [ˈaɐnɔlt ˈalɔʏs ˈʃvaɐtsənˌʔɛɡɐ]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austro-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011. Schwarzenegger began weight training at the age of 15 years old. He won the Mr. Universe title at age 20 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent presence in bodybuilding and has written many books and articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" during his acting career and more recently the "Governator" (from "Governor" and "Terminator").

As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007. Schwarzenegger was married to Maria Shriver. The couple separated in 2011 after 25 years of marriage.


Quotes·Quotation by Arnold Schwarzenegger


Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator from The Terminator (1984)

¶ [looks around, examining the structural integrity of the room, then looks back at him] I'll be back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator 2: Judgment Day from The Terminator (1991)

Hasta la vista, baby.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger

Armenia and Armenians

Armenia and Armenians

Armenia

Armenia (i/ɑrˈmiːniə/ Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan), officially the Republic of Armenia (Armenian: Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe,[9] it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.

Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion,[10] in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD).[11] The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment.[12][13] Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD.

A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is an emerging democracy and as of 2011 was negotiating with the European Union to become an associate member. It has the right to be an EU member provided it meets necessary standards and criteria.[14][15][16][17] The Government of Armenia holds European integration as a key priority in its foreign policy.[18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia


Armenians

Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, hayer [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.

The Republic of Armenia and the unrecognized de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are the two countries where Armenians form a majority, both with a nearly homogeneous population. Because of a wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 5-7 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.

Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew.[3] In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.[4]

Armenian is an Indo-European language. It has two mutually intelligible and written forms: Eastern Armenian, today spoken mainly in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran and the former Soviet republics, and Western Armenian, used in the historical Western Armenia and, after the Armenian Genocide, primarily amongst the Armenian diaspora. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by the scholar and evangelizer Mesrop Mashtots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians


Armenian language

The Armenian language (Armenian: հայերեն, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑjɛˈɾɛn], hayeren) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora. It has its own script, the Armenian alphabet, and is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within Indo-European.

Linguists classify Armenian as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family.[2] Armenian shares a number of major innovations with Greek,[3] and some linguists group these two languages together with Phrygian and the Indo-Iranian family into a higher-level subgroup of Indo-European which is defined by such shared innovations as the augment. More recently, others have proposed a Balkan grouping including Greek, Armenian, Phrygian and Albanian.[4][5]

Armenian has a long literary history, with a fifth-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been heavily influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to a lesser extent by Greek, Latin, Old French, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and other languages throughout its history. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible. The divergent and almost extinct Lomavren language is a Romani-influenced dialect with an Armenian grammar and a largely Romani-derived vocabulary, including Romani numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_language


Armenian Proverbs

Hope

¶ Արևն ամպի տակ չի մնայ:
Transliteration: Arevn ampi tak chi mna.
Translation: The sun won't stay behind the cloud.

¶ Խնձորը ծառից հեռու չի ընկնում։
Transliteration: Khndzor@ tzarits heroo chi @nknoom.
Translation: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Meaning: Children observe daily and — in their behaviour — often follow the example of their parents.


References

Armenia

[1]^ a b "The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (with amendments)". Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia. 5 July 1995. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
[2]^ Asatryan, Garnik; Arakelova, Victoria (Yerevan 2002). The Ethnic Minorities in Armenia. Part of the OSCE.
[3]^ "The World Fact Book – Armenia". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 19 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
[4]^ "Statistical Service of Armenia". World Economic Outlook Database, October 2009. IMF. Archived from the original on 10 October 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
[5]^ "News.am". World Economic Outlook Database, October 2009. IMF. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
[6]^ a b c d "Armenia". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 2012-04-17.
[7]^ "Distribution of family income – Gini index". The World Factbook. CIA. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
[8]^ "Human Development Report 2010". United Nations. 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
[9]^ Armenia may be considered to be in Asia and/or Europe. The UN classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook "Armenia". The World Factbook. CIA. Archived from the original on 10 October 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010. "Armenia". National Geographic. , "Armenia". Encyclopædia Britannica. and Oxford Reference Online "Oxford Reference". Oxford Reference Online. Retrieved 20 October 2012. also place Armenia in Asia. Conversely, some sources place Armenia in Europe such as "Europe". Worldatlas. Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2010.[unreliable source?]
[10]^ "The conversion of Armenia to Christianity was probably the most crucial step in its history. It turned Armenia sharply away from its Iranian past and stamped it for centuries with an intrinsic character as clear to the native population as to those outside its borders, who identified Armenia almost at once as the first state to adopt Christianity". (Garsoïan, Nina (1997). In ed. R.G. Hovannisian. Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. Volume 1, p.81.).
[11]^ Grousset, René (1947). Histoire de l'Arménie (1984 ed.). Payot. p. 122.. Estimated dates vary from 284 to 314. Garsoïan (op.cit. p.82), following the research of Ananian, favours the latter.
[12]^ The republic has separation of church and state
[13]^ "The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, Article 8.1". President.am. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
[14]^ "How Armenia Could Approach the European Union" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-03-12.
[15]^ "EUROPA – Press Releases – EU launches negotiations on Association Agreements with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia". Europa (web portal). 15 July 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
[16]^ "Armenia-EU association agreement may be concluded shortly | Armenia News –". News.am. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
[17]^ "3rd PLENARY ROUND OF THE EU-ARMENIA NEGOTIATIONS ON THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT". Ec.europa.eu. 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
[18]^ "Information Center – Official News – The Government of the Republic of Armenia". Gov.am. 27 November 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2011.

Armenians

[1]^ "2001 Armenian National Census: De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity". National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
[2]^ National Statistical Service of Nagorno-Karabach Republic. "De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity" (PDF). Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
[3]^ a b c see Hastings, Adrian (2000). A World History of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-8028-4875-8.
[4]^ "Armenia first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.". Archived from the original on 2011-02-11. Retrieved 2007-02-27.

Armenian language

[1]^ Crystal, David (2001). A dictionary of language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780226122038.
[2]^ Armenian language – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
[3]^ "The Armenian Language".
[4]^ Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, Benjamin W. Fortson, John Wiley and Sons, 2009, p383.
[5]^ Hans J. Holm (2011): “Swadesh lists” of Albanian Revisited and Consequences for its position in the Indo-European Languages. The Journal of Indo-European Studies, Volume 39, Number 1&2.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_language

Aristotle (384BC-322BC)


Aristotle (384BC-322BC)

Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics.

Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the zoological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues (Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold"), it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.


Quotes·Quotations by Aristotle

Attitude

¶ The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

¶ We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Friend

¶ A friend is a second self.

Happiness

¶ One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.

Work

¶ Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle

Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)


Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)

Aristotle Sokratis Onassis (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotelis Onasis; 15 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.


Quotes·Quotation

Business

The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle_Onassis

Aramaic people and language


Aramaic people and language


Aramaic people (Assyrian people)

The Assyrian people,[25] most commonly known as Assyrians and other later names, such as Ashuriyun, Atorayeh and Syriacs (see names of Syriac Christians), are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia. They are Semitic people, who speak and write distinct dialects of Eastern Aramaic exclusive to Mesopotamia and its immediate surroundings.

Assyrians trace their ancestry back to the Sumero-Akkadian civilisation that emerged in Mesopotamia circa 4000–3500 BC, and in particular to the northern region of the Akkadian lands, which would become known as Assyria by the 24th century BC. The Assyrian nation existed as an independent state, and often a powerful empire, from the 24th century BC until the end of the 7th century BC. Assyria remained a Geo-political entity after its fall, and was ruled as an occupied province under the rule of various empires from the late 7th century BC until the mid-7th century AD when it was dissolved, and the Assyrian people have gradually become a minority in their homelands since that time.

Today that ancient territory is part of several nations; the north of Iraq, part of southeast Turkey and northeast Syria. They are indigenous to, and have traditionally lived all over what is now Iraq, northeast Syria, northwest Iran, and southeastern Turkey.[26] They are a Christian people, with most following various Eastern Rite Churches, although many are non-religious.
Although culturally similar, Assyrians are distinct linguistically, genetically and for the most part geographically from the Syriac Christians of Syria (except the northeast) and Lebanon.

Many have migrated to the Caucasus, North America, Australia and Europe during the past century or so. Diaspora and refugee communities are based in Europe (particularly Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, and France), North America, New Zealand, Lebanon, Armenia, Georgia,[27] southern Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan and Jordan.

Emigration was triggered by such events as the Assyrian Genocide by the Turkish Ottoman Empire during First World War, the Simele massacre in Iraq (1933), the Islamic revolution in Iran (1979), Arab Nationalist Baathist policies in Iraq and Syria, the Al-Anfal Campaign of Saddam Hussein,[28] and to some degree Kurdish nationalist policies in northern Iraq.

The major sub-ethnic division is religious, between the Eastern group ("Assyrian Church of the East", "Ancient Church of the East" and "Chaldean Catholic") indigenous to northern Iraq, northwest Iran, northeast Syria and southeast Turkey, and a Western one ("Syrian Orthodox", and Syrian Catholic") found mainly in south central Turkey and Syria, this latter group, being culturally and ethnically the same as the other Assyrian groups, often prefer the designation Aramean.

Most recently, the Iraq War has displaced the regional Assyrian community, as its people have faced ethnic and religious persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists and Arab and Kurdish nationalists. Of the one million or more Iraqis reported by the United Nations to have fled Iraq since the American occupation, nearly forty percent (40%) are Assyrian, although Assyrians comprised around 3% of the pre-war Iraqi population.[29][30][31]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_people


Arameans

The Arameans, or Aramaeans, (Aramaic: ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ‎, ארמיא ; ʼaramáyé) were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. A large proportion of Syriac Christians in modern Syria still espouse an Aramean identity to this day, though few now speak the Western Aramaic language.
The Arameans never had a unified nation; they were divided into small independent kingdoms across parts of the Near East, particularly in what is now modern Syria. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to a number of Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC.

By contrast, the Aramaic language came to be the lingua franca of the entire Fertile Crescent, by Late Antiquity developing into the literary languages such as Syriac and Mandaic. Scholars have used the term "Aramaization" for the process by which the Akkadian/Assyro-Babylonian peoples became Aramaic-speaking during the later Iron Age.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arameans


Aramaic language

Aramaic is a family of languages (traditionally referred to as "dialects") belonging to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to both the Arabic and modern Hebrew alphabets.

During its 3,000-year written history,[3] Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. It was the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period (539 BC – 70 AD), the language that Jesus Christ probably used the most,[4][5] the language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Talmud.[6] However, Jewish Aramaic was different from the other forms both in lettering and grammar. Parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Jewish Aramaic showing the unique Jewish lettering, related to the unique Hebrew script.

Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties which are sometimes called dialects, though they are distinct enough that they are sometimes considered languages. Therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language; each time and place rather has had its own variation. Aramaic is retained as a liturgical language by certain Eastern Christian churches, in the form of Syriac, the Aramaic variety by which Eastern Christianity was diffused, whether or not those communities once spoke it or another form of Aramaic as their vernacular, but have since shifted to another language as their primary community language.

Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by many scattered, predominantly small, and largely isolated communities of differing Christian, Jewish, and Mandean ethnic groups of West Asia[7]—most numerously by the Assyrians in the form of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic —that have all retained use of the once dominant lingua franca despite subsequent language shifts experienced throughout the Middle East. The Aramaic languages are considered to be endangered.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language


Aramaic Proverb

Advice

¶ If you steal from a thief, you also have a taste of it.


Notes

Aramaic people (Assyrian people)

[25]^ so identified in the United States Census
[26]^ *MacDonald, Kevin (2004-07-29). Socialization for Ingroup Identity among Assyrians in the United States. Paper presented at a symposium on socialization for ingroup identity at the meetings of the International Society for Human Ethology, Ghent, Belgium. "Based on interviews with community informants, this paper explores socialization for ingroup identity and endogamy among Assyrians in the United States. The Assyrians descent from the population of ancient Assyria (founded in the 24th century BC), and have lived as a linguistic, political, religious, and ethnic minority in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey since the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 608 BC. Practices that maintain ethnic and cultural continuity in the Near East, the United States and elsewhere include language and residential patterns, ethnically based Christian churches characterized by unique holidays and rites, and culturally specific practices related to life-cycle events and food preparation. The interviews probe parental attitudes and practices related to ethnic identity and encouragement of endogamy. Results are being analyzed."
[27]^ Assyrians in Georgia, Joshua Project
[28]^ Dr. Eden Naby. "Documenting The Crisis In The Assyrian Iranian Community".
[29]^ "Assyrian Christians 'Most Vulnerable Population' in Iraq". The Christian Post. Archived from the original on 6 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-05.
[30]^ "Iraq's Christian community, fights for its survival". Christian World News.
[31]^ "U.S. Gov't Watchdog Urges Protection for Iraq's Assyrian Christians". The Christian Post. Retrieved 2007-12-31.

Arameans

[1]^ See page 9.

Aramaic language

[1]^ The Aramaic Text in Demotic Script: The Liturgy of a New Year's Festival Imported from Bethel to Syene by Exiles from Rash – On JSTOR
[2]^ Manichaean Aramaic in the Chinese Hymnscroll
[3]^ Aramaic appears somewhere between 11th and 9th centuries BC. Beyer (1986: 11) suggests that written Aramaic probably dates from the 11th century BC, as it is established by the 10th century, to which he dates the oldest inscriptions of northern Syria. Heinrichs (1990: x) uses the less controversial date of 9th century, for which there is clear and widespread attestation.
[4]^ Allen C. Myers, ed. (1987). "Aramaic". The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans. p. 72. ISBN 0-8028-2402-1. "It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Israel in the first century AD. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73)."
[5]^ http://markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/jesuslanguage.htm
[6]^ Beyer 1986: 38–43; Casey 1998: 83–6, 88, 89–93; Eerdmans 1975: 72.
[7]^ Heinrichs 1990: xi–xv; Beyer 1986: 53.
[8]^ Naby, Eden. From Lingua Franca to Endangered Language. Assyrian International News Agency.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arameans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aramaic_proverbs

Arab world and Arab people

Arab world and Arab people

Arab world

The Arab world (Arabic: العالم العربي‎ al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī ) consists of the Arabic-speaking states and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.[1]

The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast.[1] It has a combined population of around 340 million people, with over half under 25 years of age.[2]

The sentiment of Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arabs, and especially to pursue the political unification of the Arab countries, a project known as Pan-Arabism.[3][4] The popular protests throughout the Arab world of late 2010 to early 2011 are directed against the governments and the associated political corruption, paired with the demand for more economic opportunity.

The term "Arab world" is usually rejected by those living in the region who do not consider themselves Arabs, like non-Semitic people such as the Berbers and Kurds, as it implies the entire region is Arab in its identity, population, and origin, whereas the original homeland of the Arabs is the Arabian Peninsula. The term is also rejected by some indigenous Semitic minorities such as the Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Mizrahim, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syriacs, as they pre-date Arabs in places such as Iraq, Palestine, and Syria. Coptic Egyptians and other Egyptians also define themselves as Egyptian and not Arab.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_world


Arab people

Distribution
of Arabic
as sole
official
language
(green)
and one of
several
official
or national
languages
(blue).
Arab people, also known as Arabs (Arabic: عرب‎, ʿarab), are a panethnicity[14] primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds,[15] with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing an important part of Arab identity.[16]

The word "Arab" has had several different, but overlapping, meanings over the centuries (and sometimes even today). In addition to including all Arabized people of the world (with language tending to be the acid test), it has also at times been used exclusively for bedouin (Arab nomads [although a related word, "`a-RAB," with the Arabic letter "alif" in the second syllable, once was sometimes used when this specific meaning was intended] and their now almost entirely settled descendants). It is sometimes used that way colloquially even today in some places. Townspeople once were sometimes called "sons of the Arabs." As in the case of other ethnicities or nations, people identify themselves (or are identified by others) as "Arabs" to varying degrees. This may not be one's primary identity (it tends to compete with country, religion, sect, etc.), and whether it is emphasized may depend upon one's audience.

If the diverse Arab pan-ethnicity is regarded as a single ethnic group, then it constitutes one of the world's largest after Han Chinese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_people


Arabic Proverb

Friend

¶ Any wise enemy is better than an ignorant friend.


Notes

Arab world

[1]^ Source, unless otherwise specified: Demographic Yearbook—Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area and density (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2010
Entries in this table giving figures other than the figures given in this source are bracketed by asterisks () in the Notes field, and the rationale for the figure used are explained in the associated Note.
[1]^ a b c d e f Frishkopf: 61: "No universally accepted definition of 'the Arab world' exists, but it is generally assumed to include the twenty-two countries belonging to the Arab League that have a combined population of about 280 million (Seib 2005, 604). For the purposes of this introduction, this territorial definition is combined with a linguistic one (use of the Arabic language, or its recognition as critical to identity), and thereby extended into multiple diasporas, especially the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Australia."
[2]^ Arab World Ministries
[3]^ a b "Arab League Sends Delegation to Iraq". Encyclopedia.com. 8 October 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
[4]^ a b "Arab League Warns of Civil War in Iraq". Encyclopedia.com. 8 October 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2011.

Arab people

[14]^ "Ghazi Tadmouri - Abstract". Hgm2011.org. 2011-03-15. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
[15]^ Francis Mading Deng War of visions: conflict of identities in the Sudan, Brookings Institution Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8157-1793-8 p. 405
[16]^ Nicholas S. Hopkins, Saad Eddin Ibrahim eds., Arab society: class, gender, power, and development, American University in Cairo Press, 1997, p.6


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language