(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

(05-30-2014 03:09 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

Yep, the Dark Ages were only "dark" in Europe.

(05-30-2014 03:14 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:09 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

Yep, the Dark Ages were only "dark" in Europe.

Yea half your population dying in a plague and the rest struggling to survive famine due to abnormally cold temps and short growing seasons will set you back a century or so..

Still Ill take what the Greeks and Romans did for engineering and put it up as a "we carried our own weight"..

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

(05-30-2014 03:14 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:09 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

Yep, the Dark Ages were only "dark" in Europe.

Yea half your population dying in a plague and the rest struggling to survive famine due to abnormally cold temps and short growing seasons will set you back a century or so..

Still Ill take what the Greeks and Romans did for engineering and put it up as a "we carried our own weight"..

(05-30-2014 03:24 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:14 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:09 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

Yep, the Dark Ages were only "dark" in Europe.

Yea half your population dying in a plague and the rest struggling to survive famine due to abnormally cold temps and short growing seasons will set you back a century or so..

Still Ill take what the Greeks and Romans did for engineering and put it up as a "we carried our own weight"..

Dark ages as commonly understood, are a myth. There was plenty of innovation and culture in that time. They were labeled as "Dark Ages" by Petrarch, who re-discovered Roman poets, and was bitter that the centuries had ignored them. So he labeled the era as "dark" b/c they didn't do what he thought important.

Yes, leftist scholars haven't changed in 700 years.

Now "Dark Ages" is used to refer to that era simply b/c there is little written from that time. I read an interesting theory about that the other day: the seas were dangerous due to piracy, predominantly from muslim lands. Thus the goods to make cheap paper weren't available, and it was back to parchment.

(05-30-2014 03:30 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  Actually, there was very little innovation during that period and if it weren't for the Catholic Church, whose clergy were almost the only people in the continent able to read and write, we'd have nothing from the fall of Rome until the Crusades.

(05-30-2014 03:24 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:14 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:09 PM)VA49er Wrote:  

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

Yep, the Dark Ages were only "dark" in Europe.

Yea half your population dying in a plague and the rest struggling to survive famine due to abnormally cold temps and short growing seasons will set you back a century or so..

Still Ill take what the Greeks and Romans did for engineering and put it up as a "we carried our own weight"..

Dark ages as commonly understood, are a myth. There was plenty of innovation and culture in that time. They were labeled as "Dark Ages" by Petrarch, who re-discovered Roman poets, and was bitter that the centuries had ignored them. So he labeled the era as "dark" b/c they didn't do what he thought important.

Yes, leftist scholars haven't changed in 700 years.

Now "Dark Ages" is used to refer to that era simply b/c there is little written from that time. I read an interesting theory about that the other day: the seas were dangerous due to piracy, predominantly from muslim lands. Thus the goods to make cheap paper weren't available, and it was back to parchment.

(05-30-2014 06:39 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  Besides, the term Dark Ages refers to the political setting, having lost the 'light' of Rome. There was no centralized political figure or structure like in the past. In other areas of society things continued on as they always had.

Like I said, advances in understanding and application of logic were huge and unbelievably valuable.

(05-31-2014 03:18 PM)EagleX Wrote:  "y'all" isn't southern dialect, and it isn't a contraction of "you all". it predates the entire country, and is actually a mumbled amalgamation of the old english "ye all".

. . .

(05-31-2014 03:26 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  

(05-31-2014 03:18 PM)EagleX Wrote:  "y'all" isn't southern dialect, and it isn't a contraction of "you all". it predates the entire country, and is actually a mumbled amalgamation of the old english "ye all".

. . .

Mmm, I don't know about that one.

(05-31-2014 03:29 PM)EagleX Wrote:  

(05-31-2014 03:26 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  

(05-31-2014 03:18 PM)EagleX Wrote:  "y'all" isn't southern dialect, and it isn't a contraction of "you all". it predates the entire country, and is actually a mumbled amalgamation of the old english "ye all".

. . .

Mmm, I don't know about that one.

neither do I. But it sounds good, doesn't it?

(05-30-2014 03:07 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Potassium has the chemical symbol K, which comes from 'kalium'; a neo-Latin term from the sixteenth century derived from 'alkali', which comes from the the Arabic 'al-qalyah', which means "plant ashes" because the Arab scholars of the Middle Ages first isolated potassium and other metallic salts in the ashes of plants.

In the sixteenth century, other Western scholars likewise discovered potassium in a substance that had been used for centuries called 'potash'... which is the burnt ashes of plants. 'Potash' became 'potassium' but to keep it sounding classical, they kept the K symbol for kalium (as the main purpose for neo-Latin was to make things sound important.)


It's fascinating to me how much early knowledge came out of Arab cultures. Doubly sad if you look at the state of affairs there today.

(05-31-2014 03:39 PM)oklalittledixie Wrote:  We've all seen these guys around town, but many people don't know this is actually an anomaly in the gene pool.