#Goidelic languages

[polysprachig]

A note on posting in Irish (Gaeilge):

I was brainstorming what types of posts could be helpful to Irish learners in langblr and came up with the following:

posts where you can listen to a reading with an explanation of some of the trickier grammar points

vocabulary posts which include examples of all 4 noun forms (nom + gen, sg + pl) so there's context

notes on sentence structure/word form where the examples actually use the structure/word you're trying to learn (if you know, you know)

links to videos which include Irish and/or Irish & English subtitles

mini-lessons on grammar with notes on the source references

tags including canúint or CEFR-level, if relevant (especially for grammar or vocab)

Anything I'm missing here? Please share your ideas Gaeilgeoirí agus foghlaimeoirí in langblr!

[kaizey]

On Gaelic vs Gaeilge vs Irish

Since several people have been asking me stuff regarding this today, and with Unreal Unearth adding to the eyes on it, I wanted to lend an irish voice to the pile already saying this, but it can be useful for non-irish people to learn (mostly americans)

Anyway; Gaelic vs Gaeilge vs Irish

Gaelic: This is infact an english word. As béarla, ok? It derives itself from the irish Gael, which itself comes from the old irish Goídel, an adapted word from old welsh meaning "wildman" or "forestman". In our actual language, the word for 'gaelic' is itself 'gaelach'

Gaelic, also, in the broader sense, is more than just language. Its a word covering the Goidelic languages originating in Ireland, and of wider Gaelic culture across Ireland, Scotland and Mannin. These are widely disparate places in our regional cultures, lexicons and yes, language.

Irish: The english word for our language and by far what the majority of anyone here will refer to as our language when speaking about it i mBéarla

Gaeilge: The Linguonym for irish *in* irish. Its by far the second most encountered term youll hear anyone from here use when talking about irish other than the english word. See where the common term "as gaeilge" comes from

tl;dr Youre not technically incorrect for saying Gaelic when referring to the irish language. But its much less accurate than just calling it irish, and in our language, we refer to it as Gaeilge (general pron. Gw-ale-guh)

Anyway, Go raibh math agat and hope youve been enjoying the Unreal Unearth as much as I have. Definitely not emotionally wrecked by it or anything

Slán

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Public Service Announcement to Marvel Fans

Sarah Rogers is from Ireland, she is Irish. Her son, Steve Rogers, is Irish-American. In addition to speaking English, they'd likely natively speak Irish. They would not natively speak Gaelic.

While both Irish and Gaelic are in the Goidelic family of Celtic languages, they are two entirely different languages, spoken in two separate countries, both of which have their own separate histories and cultures.

Irish (also known as 'Gailege' in the Irish language, or less commonly and very confusingly 'Irish Gaelic' due to very poor anglicization*) is the language of Ireland and spoken by the Irish people.

Additionally, any translation resources you utilize for 'Gaelic' as a language will not give you the Irish language, because in English the word 'Gaelic', when referring to one specific language, refers only to the language of Scottland.

'Irish' is the conventional English term for the Irish language.

*Calling Irish 'Irish Gaelic' is very insulting to Irish speakers who fight to keep the language alive, as that name comes out of centuries of English ignorance and subjugation of all aspects of Irish identity and culture.

[sierrawitch]

Table of Contents

Welcome to my little corner of the internet. I am autumn sierra, a Goidelic (Celtic) and Eclectic Folk Magick practitioner. Here you’ll find my musings and recordings of my practice and its many facets—including history, geography, language, culture, etc. Please stay a while 🌿

Academic Articles

Menstrual Magick: The Goddess Within

Master Posts

Ogham Master Post

Celtic History & Culture

Celtic Customs: Hair

Mallacht, Géisa, Piseógs, Sugáns & Bulláns: Superstition & Cursing

Scottish Saining

What is “Celtic”?

Sacred Animals & Their Correspondances

Intuitive Magick

Rebirth Shower

Healing Doll

Journal Entries

Visualization for the Clairvoyantly Impaired

Manifestation of the Spoken Word

On Religious Guilt

On Consistency

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

So I’m interested in the thing you taught about Anglo-Saxons pushing the celts out of land- do you know how far north they pushed?

I’m Scots, and I have an interest in our history, but to be honest almost all of my knowledge of it comes from post-1000, with the exception of a few local myths about Viking raiders being scared off by a mother wolf.

So I’d love to ask what you know- and I’ll just say that, because you talk about the welsh language a lot, I would be interested in what you think of the work to revive Gaelic as a primary language of this country- my Nans all for it, but most other people think it’s not working the way it has in wales because Gaelic was never spoken across the country Welsh was- my mums family is from old Norse speaking ancestry/cities and the local area was more likely to speak French than Gaelic (my dads English with a clan surname so some Highland Clearance stuff definitely happened and also for about 50 years round about bonnie prince Charlie that name was banned/got you shot so some *shit* presumably happened)

In terms of how far they pushed, this is the map of the Heptarchy, i.e. their furthest extent:

So a bit of the Scottish south east. You see Strathclyde on there? That was the Brythonic part! This is why Glasgow is a Welsh name in origin. Cousins!

In terms of Gàidhlig revival (I'm not correcting you with the spelling, I just have friends who speak it and that's their preference lol), it's certainly a lot more complicated than it is in Wales, for numerous reasons. One is admittedly that Scotland has always been inherently multicultural - even before the Anglo-Saxons, the north was Pictish, the west was Goidelic (Dal Riada spanned west Scotland and modern northern Ireland), the south was Brythonic, and the islands have long been a spirited mix of Norse and Other. Each of those spoke their own language. Then came the Heptarchy, which birthed Scots, and then the Vikings in earnest... By contrast, Wales just spoke Welsh. Different dialects, sure, and infusions from elsewhere, but country-wide, we just had the one thing.

And then there's the sheer weight of numbers. The current percentage of the population that speaks Gàidhlig is, to my knowledge, less than two percent, which is an incredibly challenging position to be in. By contrast, the lowest Welsh ever slid to was seventeen percent, back in the Eighties, and today it's about thirty. That's much easier to pull off.

I should clarify here, of course, that I am not about to speak on behalf of Scottish people. Whether Gàidhlig is representative, whether it SHOULD be revived, those are ultimately debates for Scots to have, I'm nobody. But since you asked directly I can share my very Welsh-influenced perspective.

Firstly, any country-wide bilingualism is unilaterally a good thing. Without exception. Every country in the world should be aiming for it with *something*, regardless of what it is. There is no harm from raising a bilingual child. It's literally good for the brain.

Secondly, any language at all is a beautiful, unique thing that acts as a memory crystal for the culture and philosophy attached to it. If you lose one, you lose something important that can't be replaced. Here's an example! Translating between Korean and English pronouns is often a challenge, because Korean doesn't have the gender markers that English needs, but English doesn't have the age/social status markers that Korean needs. That tells you something fascinating about both of those cultures, and the philosophy and worldview they hold. Gàidhlig is not yet dead. There is time to save it. It is unique; it's a repository for so much of an older Scottish culture that otherwise might be lost. Why not save it?

Thirdly, why place the pressure on it to be a language spoken by all of Scotland? Does it need to be? Because there wasn't a pan-Scottish language, not until English, and that one was spread through imperialism. You won't find an alternative that was spoken by everyone. Does that mean you shouldn't bother with any of them? Well; see point one. But also...

If the issue is a lack of 'identity' - this was not spoken in my area, so I don't identify with it - it was still nonetheless a Scottish language. It's still unique and endemic to the country you now identify with. It's therefore still yours. And what's preventing someone learning something appropriately local as well? Fuck it, if you're from the south, learn Welsh. Pictish was lost - it can't be saved anymore. But it looks like it was Brythonic, so again, there's always Welsh as the closest analogue. But Gàidhlig is still Scottish, unique to the country, whereas Welsh is more pan-British.

So yeah, those are my very rambly thoughts that I have not actually pondered deeply at all. I shall now bow out of that particular conversation and leave it to the Scots

[languages-with-ian]

Could you talk about Gaelic? How many people are speak it today?

Indeed I can!

SCOTTISH GAELIC

"Gaelic" as a term can refer to any of the Goidelic branch of languages, which includes Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. HOWEVER, since today (November 30th) is Saint Andrew's Day, Scotland's national day, let's talk about Gàidhlig na h-Alba, or Scottish Gaelic! Latha Naomh Anndra sona dhuibh!

When referring to Scottish Gaelic, we pronounce the word "Gaelic" not as "gey-lick" but as "gal-lick", owing to its native pronunciation (which you can listen to here).

BEFORE THIS POST GETS TOO LONG, I urge the reader to consider learning this language! It's the source of my name after all ("Ian" is a form of "Iain" or "Eòin", both Gaelic forms of "John") and is the heritage language of as many as 40 million people worldwide. Even if you don't claim any Scottish ancestry, it's a beautiful and poetic language tied to an equally beautiful and poetic culture! Use it as a code language with your friends, read some classic Gaelic literature, or even pay a visit to Scotland and smugly read Gaelic road signs off to your friends/family/tour guide! (They'll love it, I promise.) I personally have been learning via Duolingo and other online resources for about 8 months now. And remember, "Is fheàrr Gàidhlig bhriste na Gàidhlig sa chiste" (better broken Gaelic than Gaelic in the coffin).

As of the 2011 Census, the total number of people within Scotland itself that can speak the language is about 57,000 people, or 1.1% of the population [1]. This is indeed a relatively small number, and according to the Endangered Languages Project the language is "Threatened", but the Scottish Government has produced Gaelic Language Plans about every five years since the passage of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005. These plans ensure government commitment to the survival and growth of the language, and indeed the decline in speakers has slowed since 2000, and with luck these trends will reverse in the coming years.

In fact, on October 14 of this year, the Scottish Government released an updated language plan outlining the next five years of government initiatives for the language.

But what is this language?

WARNING: INCOMING HISTORY LESSON!

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language that was brought to the west coast of Scotland from Ireland by settlers (named "Scoti" by the Romans) sometime between 300 and 500 CE. These settlers soon established the Kingdom of Dál Riata (a name which means "Riata's territory"). This kingdom maintained close ties with Ulster (roughly modern Northern Ireland), and it was during this early period that Christianity began to take hold across Scotland, with such figures as Saint Columba founding monasteries and institutions of learning. What is today Scotland was fractured between four broad people groups at this point - the Gaels in the west, the Picts in the east, the Angles of Northumbria and Berenicia in the southeast, and the Britons of Strathclyde in the south.

With Christianity came the rapid spread of the Gaelic language into lands outside Gaelic control, especially into the Kingdom of the Picts. Eventually, in the 860s-870s, a certain group called the Vikings appeared. (You may have heard of them.) It was at this time that Scotland unified against a common threat, solidifying the bond between the (likely) Brittonic-speaking Picts and the Gaelic-speaking Scots. Over time, Pictish identity was completely lost (leaving behind difficult-to-decipher standing stones scattered across the countryside), and a unified Kingdom of Alba appeared. (Alba means Scotland - and it's not pronounced how you might think.) Between about 1000 and 1200, Gaelic reached its greatest geographic extent, being spoken across Scotland (the islands at this time were ruled by Vikings, which I'll cover in a later post; however, Gaelic was still spoken, at least in the Western Isles). Some people argue that it was never spoken south of Lothian, but place-name evidence from the Borders calls this into question somewhat (name prefixes such as "bal-" and "kil-" are telltale signs of Gaelic settlements).

Malcolm III (of Macbeth fame), also known as Malcolm Canmore ("ceann mòr", or "big head"), married an Anglo-Saxon princess named Margaret, who had no Gaelic. It was at this time, around 1070, that the first signs of a decline in the language began to appear. Margaret brought English-speaking monks to the Lowlands, in effect drawing a cultural border between Lowlands and Highlands.

By the mid-1300s, Scots, a sister language of English (NOT a dialect!), had become the language of the courts and of the parliament. England, in all its ambition, turned its eyes northward, necessitating an independence struggle (or two, or three...), although this resistance was carried out using Scots (then dubbed "Inglis"), not Gaelic (then "Scottis").

By the time the above image was current (c. 1400), Scottish Gaelic had almost completely split away from Irish, though the written languages were (and to a rough extent, still are) rather mutually intelligible.

Over time, Gaelic became further and further marginalized by Scots. Various government initiatives worked expressly against the language, incentivizing or otherwise encouraging Highlanders to speak the "educated tongue" of the Lowlands. In Scots, Gaelic was called "Erse" (roughly, "Irish"), in a popular effort to "de-Scottify" the language. James VI (and I)'s reign marked a significant downturn in the language's usage. The language was seen as backwards, rebellious, and Catholic (a big no-no in an officially Protestant nation). The language was looked down upon in schools (not to mention broader society) from the 1600s up through the early 1900s, and English became the language of upward mobility for Highlanders and Islanders.

Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal, the Highland Clearances, were a result of the failed Jacobite rebellions throughout the 1700s and the imposition of new systems of land management and ownership. Many Highland families emigrated to the far corners of the British Empire, particularly Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Highland culture, for all intents and purposes defunct back home in Scotland, survived in these places into the modern era.

In Canada, Gaelic found much success, especially initially. At one point, Gaelic was the third-most commonly spoken language in Canada, though usage declined markedly between the 1800s and more recent revival efforts in the late 20th century. According to the 2011 Canadian Census, 7,195 people claim "Gaelic languages" as the language they use at home (though this term also includes Irish, Welsh, and Breton, the latter two of which are not Gaelic, but Brythonic). Scottish Gaelic is taught in schools (on an opt-in basis) from primary to university level in Nova Scotia, a province whose name means "New Scotland" in Latin. In Nova Scotia, especially on Cape Breton Island, Highland culture is still very much alive.

What goes on within Gaelic?

Gaelic and its other Celtic cousins are quite unique in the European context, as they place the verb first within sentence structure. It's also quite interesting as its nouns can still inflect for the dual number (at least vestigially), a feature lost in a great many other Indo-European languages (oh, did I mention it's an Indo-European language?). If you've ever seen any written Irish or Scottish Gaelic, you may have noticed they like to put "h" after the first letter of a lot of words. This is a linguistic phenomenon known as mutation, and in this case more specifically as lenition. It changes the pronunciation of the first consonant of the word. This phenomenon has been present in the language since the days of Old Irish (and perhaps even further back into the days of Proto-Celtic).

In terms of spelling and pronunciation, it's astonishingly regular... once you figure out all the rules. There are 11-ish vowel sounds (depending on dialect), and 30 (or so) consonant sounds, a step down from Old Irish's 46 distinct consonants.

To conclude:

If you're committed to learning the language, I would recommend finding fellow learners or even native speakers online, and if you're really, REALLY committed to learning the language, I would doubly recommend making the effort to find a tutor in-person or over Zoom or another video calling service if it's within your means (although this advice goes without saying for learning any language). An institution known as Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, based in the Isle of Skye in the Western Isles of Scotland, must be mentioned in any discussion about learning Gaelic, however. According to their website, they are the "only centre of Higher and Further Education in the world that provides its learning programmes entirely through the medium of Gaelic in an immersed, language-rich environment." (This post is not sponsored.) If you have the time, the money, and the willpower, perhaps give them a look! They work closely with projects such as Tobar an Dualchais and Soillse to preserve, maintain, and revitalize Gaelic language and culture for future generations.

Follow for more linguistics and share this post! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[historia-vitae-magistras]

gosh, 27 for the anglo family please :)

27.) Bestest card game player?

Poker matches in this fucking family would be batshit. Brighid, Jack and Rhys are out quickly because they're all shit at hiding their tells from people who know them well. Matt is out next because he's only stoic until the third beer. Alasdair usually folds pretty quickly because he's not about to gut the niblings. That usually leaves Arthur, Alfred and Zee. Two master liars and the man who taught them, lmao. It's anyone's game from there.

Arthur kicks everyone's ass at word games. No one will play Scrabble or Categories with that man. English is his great influence on the world, and that man can be as clever with his words as Shakespeare. He'll pull out the most obscure words or even Cumbrian or another dead language and start a family row that ends with him and Rhys screaming their heads off about dead insular celtic vowels as Brighid and Alasdair's Goidelic asses just stand there drinking scotch like "what's done it this time?" as Matt just sighs "Cumbrian" like its the worst swear word he knows and goes to get the hose because now they're wrestling on the kitchen floor.

Of his siblings, Matt is the best at chess. His brain is tactically oriented, and Matt's always been rather reserved and not the best conversationalist. As a result, chess was one of the few activities he did well enough to keep François' attention on him. Same with Arthur later. Matt didn't give him the lively conversation Alfred would, but he was good enough at chess. He got good enough at it that he started winning more than half the matches and learned to convincingly throw the games when he played Arthur or Alfred, and they were in a bad mood.

[aefensteorrra]

goidelic languages my beloveds <3

[blackthxrntree]

I knew I'd be mildly irritated by people talking about the irish lyrics purely because ye do not know what this language is actually called

The language native to the island of Ireland is called Gaeilge or Irish

[Minor rant under the cut]

It's not Celtic. It's not Gaelic. It's not Galic.

Celtic is a language family - Gàdhligh (Scotland) and Manx (Isle of Man) are in the same Goidelic branch as Gaelige. Cymraeg (Wales) and Brezhoneg (Brittany) are in the Brittonic branch.

These languages are related but they are not the same.

Gaelic is an adjective used to describe things that come from Ireland/are distinctly Irish. For example, Gaelic Games are our national sports - Hurling, Camogie, Gaelic Football (and handball but nobody cares about that)

But ya just please take 10 seconds to figure out what this language is actually called its not difficult

(also jesus christ stop with the fairy comparisons we have a very much living and thriving culture we are neither dead nor folkloric)

[flyoverkushtaka]

Playing soccer on Friday revealed a few things to me, mainly 1) that I really suck at soccer, and 2) once I start running changing direction quickly is next to impossible, not unlike a certain fictional mustelid. I fell down twice, quite literally tumbling on one occasion. At least it was a friendly match, and hitting the ball with my head was fun. I want to do more of that.

It's a little frustrating that despite working out basically every day and being (if I do say so myself) pretty decent on the dancefloor, neither of these things translates over to athleticism on the field. Or maybe it's a problem with my legs. Or I just need to practice more. Gym is like theory and sports are like praxis. Sort of like content and expression I guess. (Can I be a body without organs and still have a dick? Is that on the table?) As far as dancing, well, maybe repurposing that spontaneous libidinal energy requires something with more physical contact. Maybe rugby really is in my near future. . . .

I won't beat myself up over my athletic incompetence too much since I tried my best and I was also playing against real Europeans. The day after while limping through a nature preserve I had to bat down the atavistic part of my brain that was panicking over how everyone knows how useless I am now, but I really know I just need to chill out bro and let it slide off my like water on a duck. I was gazing at some ducks on the lake and realized I could stop myself from feeling bad by feeling relaxed instead. If I just take everyone's friendliness at face value and reflect it back at them like a tranquil shimmering lake, I'll be fine. I don't have to be such a god damn Southerner about social interactions up here, scrutinizing every sentence for hidden meanings and coded contexts. Midwesterners are a little gormless, but I think they mean what they say for the most part, and I like that. It's easier for someone like me to deal with.

Yesterday instead of thinking about soccer I was exploring some interesting corners of the internet and realized that there seem to be two basic approaches to erotic hypnosis: One we'll call, for no particular reason, the Irish style which prioritizes insinuation and subtlety, and the other (again for no particular reason) the Scottish style which is more about overstimulation to break down rational thought. They're not mutually exclusive, just as the Goidelic languages are to a degree mutually intelligible (I spelled that wrong at first because I'm a dumb himbo slut) but they do diverge in conceptualization and I guess I'd say mood? It's the difference between a friend and a master, maybe. (Lucifer vs Dis Pater? Note to self: Work on this metaphor.) I'll have to do some more, ah, comparative research. Maybe see which leaves me more physically coordinated.

[polysprachig]

ar bharr mo theanga

on the tip of my tongue

Bhí mallacht ar bharr mo theanga nuair a bhí mo chairde ag magadh faoi mo blorbos.

[catt-nuevenor]

Morá

Have a gander at this from a Proto-Celtic Etymological Dictionary:

Read 'demon' with a fair amount of side-eye here, we're dealing with a translation and reconstruction from a post Christianisation period. When you see 'demon' think more 'supernatural being'.

A quick guide to the abbreviations:

GOID - Goidelic, Celtic language group including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx.

PIE - Proto-Indo-European, ancestral language of many modern and ancient European Languages.

COGN - Think of it as comparative examples from languages outside of Proto-Celtic or its descendents.

Of the comparative examples:

OHG - Old High German

Russ - Russian

Croat - Croatian (Standard)

ETYM - Etymology

REF - Reference to source Dictionary texts.

Source: Matasović Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic

[astriiformes]

About to say something very painfully me that I suspect may have no takers, but is there anyone with decent Welsh language ability that would be down to help me double-check the Welsh in my Wittebane backstory fic?*

I am admittedly not flying totally blind here; I've had a special interest in Celtic linguistics for a while now. But most of my self-studying has been in the Goidelic branch (mostly Scottish Gaelic and Irish), not the Brythonic languages, so beyond some dabbling, my Welsh knowledge is pretty rudimentary.

Familiarity with The Owl House would not actually be necessary, especially considering the fic in question is only very loosely related to canon in the first place (think "lengthy character study of a guy who is really more of a hole in the narrative than a character"). I'd mostly want help checking over short little words or phrases to make sure I haven't screwed up my grammar too badly. The fic in general does get a CW for 1600's transphobia and with trials hysteria (though probably not so much in the tiny parts I'd want help proofreading).

I will muddle through either way, but seeing as I refuse to be a "threw some things into Google translate and called it a day" kind of fic-writer, I figured asking the void of tumblr for help with this one was worth a shot.

(*For anyone asking "Welsh??" -- as a nod to Belos' primary VA, Matthew Rhys, being not only Welsh, but a native Welsh speaker and heavily involved in Welsh language media, I've decided to write the Wittebane brothers as Welsh/English, instead of just English)

[crusader-kings]

some random tidbits about my ocs;

ironface/star

- i do not know if this is obvious or not but hes actually albino, although it translates bad to his cat design

- he had a previous mate before goldenfeather, one who died in childbirth and the kits also, didnt survive

- dovestar was an awful mother to him, he was mostly raised by stalwart who he looks up to alot. he genuinely love his dad more than anything in the world

- his bio mother on the other hand cared for him because he was albino and the smallest of the litter, even arguing with silentstalk about his decision to exile him

- canonically, in ck, he speaks 4 languages ( goidelic his native language, arabian his dad language, greek from his mother and finnish. for funsies.) in the warrior cat universe, it just means he can talk to animals, which is relevant later on

holypyre

- comes from a long lineage of crusaders, templars and knights who fought alongside the emperor, his grandfather was granted leadership and a piece of land for his family’s effort and it was passed down to holypyre

- his former name was autumnstallion, he was named holypyre after his services as a crusader, but decided to head back to his own lands instead of remaining in the moonclan, so hes just a knight now

- he was formely close with Goldenstar but the two fell off

Goldenbutcher/star

- He was made leader when he had around 5 moons, he was mentored by his bishop who was a former warrior

- in fact, his name timeline is ; goldenkit -> goldenstar, the nickname ‘goldenbutcher’ was given to him after......some... of his ... antics..

- he does not know how to fight

[ormspryde]

No I am not sitting here at three in the morning trying to decide which goidelic language I want to HC Tercian as, thank you very little.

[dhampiravidi]

oraia's timeline for her SPN verse

3521 BCE: born in the Nile Delta

3100s: exiled from Poseidon’s kingdom to the island Polyaigos

2650: meets & trains w/Artemis for the first time

[2580 – 2510: Old Kingdom/Pyramids of Giza are built; increase in elaborate burials as the Kemetic peoples/Ancient Egyptians place more emphasis on the afterlife so Oraia’s mom, Nebet-Het, is much busier]

2500s: she finds her mom & they are forced to leave Kemet/Egypt by Sutekh, so the pair go south to live with w/the Kerma people in Southern Nubia/Sudan. Before Oraia leaves Kemet, she meets her half-brother Anpu/Anubis [Maani - middle-class immigrant from Kemet]

2400s: her mom tells her that they both need to reconnect w/their families, so Oraia goes back to Greece for a bit before exploring Anatolia & the Ancient Middle East (the Akkadian Empire & ___?) where she comes in contact w/some of the Mesopotamian gods 

c. 450: God leaves Heaven sometime within the century, as he did so after Gabriel did the same (Gabriel would take on Loki's identity around the time the Norse pantheon was being worshipped). Anubis is chosen to judge the human souls. Oraia is subsequently forced to work for Heaven.

late 331: sees the Hanging Gardens & the Library of Pergamum; not long after Alexander the Great (d. 323) captures Babylon, she moves back to Greece since her father’s family is busy in the Roman Republic [Artemisia Stavros - owned her own property after inheriting a bunch of money in Macedon]

— [YEAR ONE] — 

c. 200 – moves to Carthage (a part far from Greece, just in case) [Ketha - young Kemetic woman looking for family]

[146: Greece becomes the Roman province Achaea]

[272: most of the Library of Alexandria is destroyed]

c. 300: witnesses the persecution of pagans

late 300s – 400s: journeys to Avalon with the fey 

[476: Western Roman Empire falls]

[late May 542: King Arthur’s rule ends]

6 June 1646 – 2 July 1699: lives in Versailles [as Hortense Mancini]

1700s: she has adventures on the American frontier, where she lives w/varioustribes including that of the Yamani/NE Maidu people [as Olivia “Momim” (Water) Hodge]

1800s – early 1900s: takes slaves to Canada to be free; secretly helps the Union [Oriana Haven - French widow in Spanish Louisiana]

1917 – 11 Nov 1918: serves as translator, then later she joins the Armed Forces as a war nurse during WWI [as Evelyn Wood]

20s – 30s: is a flapper/part-time medium on the East Coast; she fucks a demon

1 Sept 1939 – 2 Sept 1945: helps Jews escape Eastern Europe during WWII

60s: protests the Vietnam War & fights for Civil Rights [as Kiana Marshall]

70s – 80s: DJ’d in South America [as Maya Selena Analicia aka Ana Licia]

00s – present: works as an art dealer/part-time exorcist & repatriator [as Artemisia Stavros]

Temperament: naive & adventurous (birth - post 400s); hot-tempered & rebellious (500s - 1800s); social & mature (sometime in the 1800s - present day)

Languages Learned (in order, by 2005 CE): 

inherited ability to speak to aquatic & equine creatures & birds of prey

unnamed Proto-Greek Indo-European language aka Pelasgian

conversational Kemetic/Ancient Egyptian

language spoken by the Kerma (present-day Sudan)

language spoken by the Minoans (present-day Crete)

Hittite

Luwian

Attic/Classical Greek

Faespeak (very similar to Archaic Irish aka Proto-Goidelic)

conversational Italian

some Latin

(European) French

Maidu

English

some French Creole

some German

Portuguese

some Spanish 

Modern Greek + French