Comment on Why is it called "overseas" even if a dispora population move to a place connected by land?
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 17 hours ago
The word goes back to at least 1580 and at the time, and for a good while thereafter, the most prominent speakers of the English language lived in a kingdom on a small island in Northern Europe that they shared with only one other nation until those two nations joined into one. So for a good chunk of history and during the development of modern English, most travel between “home” and a foreign land required going over seas. Thus “overseas” took on a meaning of foreigness or awayness.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 17 hours ago
[Angry Welsh noise, probably involving a lot of consonants and a few double L’s]
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 17 hours ago
Don’t blame me. Blame the English. I looked it up before posting: the Kingdom of England had annexed Wales by 1536.
FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 12 hours ago
Does a nation cease to exist after it is conquered? All the efforts to that effect by the English notwithstanding, it’s still there.
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 12 hours ago
I did not intend to imply that it did. That’s why I said “one other nation” apart from the kingdom, since the nation of Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom at the time.
I suppose with “until the two nations joined” I did accidentally classify the Kingdom of England as a single nation. My sincerest apologies. I have corrected the error.