Talk:Thalassocracy

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Am I right to think that thalassocracy is not really a Greek expression as the entry promises, but an inauthentic English language coinage in Greek? Perhaps such a fine distinction will arouse troglodyte resistance. There is something fatally unidiomatic about it, nevertheless, and the wise might be warned off. I suppose it is not permitted to mention that the word in English, of an English coining, has a faintly inflated sound that may lend an unfortunate and preposterous color: I would never use it in discourse. Maritime empire suffices. The Delian League, the federation of Ionian cities, the Athenian Empire, the Phoenician empire, and the Dutch East Indies pre-1700 are not yet mentioned here. --Wetman 10:51, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Many numerous English words were coined with their current meaning in English, and no-one cares (well, perhaps a large minority do, but the words have common currency and probably most don't notice they're englic). Many numerous English words were coined with their current meaning in English from parts of words that don't necessarily come from the same stock: Enlightenment (french sandwiching english, from french (en-) to english (light), english again (-en), and finally back to french (-ment)) is the only one I can think of OTTOMH, but there's dozens which mix Greek and Latin elements. Felix the Cassowary 08:42, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

The word Thalassocracy WAS coined by the ancient Greeks, but, contrary to the article, not used by them to describe Minoan Crete - it was devised to refer to the Athenian empire, if I remember correctly. The application of the word to the Minoans was invented by modern (well, early 20th century) archaeologists - Thucydides compares the Minoans to the Athenian naval empire of his own day, but stops short of actually calling them a Thalassocracy. Hagg, R. & Marinatos, N. 1984 "The Minoan Thalassocracy: Myth and Reality" is a v. useful vol. of conference proceedings but I don't have access to it at the moment so I can't write a cited correction. Shall return to this page as soon as I can, unless someone beats me to it. RaygunGothic 10:31, 13 Feb 2006 (GMT)

I think it would be wildly inappropriate t merge mariner Republics with Thalassocracy, simply because the historiography does not use the word.

On the other hand, 'Mariner' Republics' and its Italian equivalent is equally absurd. The article should not be merged. It should be moved to "Maritime Republics". Alan 09:52, 10 December 2006 (UTC)