Category: Civilization, History, and Anthropology

IS ENGLISH FROM ENGLAND? 😉
Ok. Just to have a bit of fun:
a) Technically English is derived from Anglisc, named after the Angles, who invaded the isles in the 5th century.
b) Jutes and Angles (Danes), Friesans (Dutch) are West Germanic Languages.

The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages
… 1) The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into three branches: Ingvaeonic, which includes English and Frisian, Istvaeonic, which includes Dutch and its close relatives, and Irminonic, which includes German and its close relatives and variants.
… 2) North Germanic (scandianvian)
… 3) East Germanic (Extinct 🙁 )

Dialects with the features assigned to the western germanic group formed from Proto-Germanic in the late Jastorf culture (c. 1st century BC).

The Jastorf culture was an Iron Age material culture in what is now northern Germany and southern Scandinavia spanning the 6th to 1st centuries BC, forming part of the Pre-Roman Iron Age and associating with Germanic peoples. The culture evolved out of the Nordic Bronze Age.

The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (the Scandinavian Corded Ware variant) and Bell Beaker culture. The Bronze Age in Scandinavia can be said to begin shortly after 2000 BC with the introduction and use of bronze tools, followed by a more systematic adoption of bronze metalworking technology from 1750 BC. And It appears to represent a fusion of elements from the Corded Ware culture and the preceding Pitted Ware culture of neolithic hunter gatherers.

Central European Unetice culture brought customs into the Nordic Bronze Culutures that included influences from Central Europe, in particular bronze metalworking. The decisive factor that triggered the change from the Chalcolithic Battle Axe culture into the Nordic Bronze Age is often believed to have been metallurgical influence as well as general cultural influence from Central Europe.

The Nordic Bronze Age maintained close trade links with Mycenaean Greece, with whom it shares several striking similarities. The people of the Nordic Bronze Age were actively engaged in the export of amber, and imported metals in return, becoming expert metalworkers. With respect to the number and density of metal deposits, the Nordic Bronze Age became the richest culture in Europe during its existence.

Settlement in the Nordic Bronze Age period consisted mainly of single farmsteads, which usually consisted of a longhouse plus additional four-post built structures (helms). Longhouses were initially two aisled, and after c. 1300 BC three aisled structure became normal. Some longhouses were exceptionally large (up to about 500 m2 in area), and have been described as “chiefly halls”, “the sitting area of which is the size of a megaron in contemporary Mycenean palaces”. Larger settlements are also known (such as Hallunda and Apalle in Sweden and Voldtofte in Denmark), as well as fortified sites, specialist workshops for metalwork and ceramic production, and dedicated cult houses. Settlements were geographically located on higher ground, and tended to be concentrated near the sea.

The culture of the Nordic Bronze Age was that of a warrior culture, with a strong emphasis on weapons and status. More than 70% of burials dating to the Nordic Bronze Age contain metal objects of various kinds, the most common objects being swords and daggers. But despite the importance of weapons in their society, archaeological discoveries suggest that intrasocietal violence was not particularly common in the Nordic Bronze Age, especially not when compared to contemporary European Bronze Age cultures.

Was that fun?
‘Twas for me. 😉

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