Talk:Morea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Greece Portal This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Greece, an attempt to expand, improve and standardize the content and structure of articles related to Greece.
If you would like to participate, you can improve Morea, or sign up and contribute in a wider array of articles like those on our to do list. If you have any questions, please consult the FAQ.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale. (comments)
Mid	This article has been rated as a Mid priority article
Additional information: This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar: not checked Supporting materials: not checked

Wasn't the Chronicle originally written in French, and then translated into Greek? Also, I thought the odd state of the Greek translation was because it had been translated by a non-native speaker. (I'm probably mis-remembering something, and I don't have a copy at hand.) Adam Bishop 07:41, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Probably, but is there a surviving ms version in Old French? I haven't read more than quotes from it. How does the passage look now? Wetman 08:46, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The Catholic Encyclopedia says:

"To the period of Frankish conquest belongs aIso the metrical Chronicle of Morea (fourteenth century) It was composed by a Frank brought up in Greece, though a foe of the Greeks, and its literary value for the history of civilization is all the greater. Its object was, amid the constantly progressing hellenization of the Western conquerors, to remind them of the spirit of their ancestors. It is Greek, therefore, only in language; in literary form and spirit it is wholly Frankish. The author "describes minutely the feudal customs which had been transplanted to the soil of Greece, and this perhaps is his chief merit; the deliberations of the High Court are given with the greatest accuracy, and he is quite familiar with the practice of feudal law" (J. Schmitt). As early as the fourteenth century the Chronicle was translated into Spanish and in the fifteenth into French and Italian."

I guess that must be what I was thinking of, written by a French guy in Greek. Adam Bishop 16:51, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

W.J. Aerts, the University of Groningen, contributed to a Dutch festschrift in 1990, "Was the Author of the Chronicle of Morea that Bad? Some considerations about the style and composition of the Chronicle of Morea, mainly based on the MS of Copenhagen (H 57)" It would be over my head, that's fer sure... Wetman 17:51, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Merged the two. I did delete the "is it a fish or is it a hamster?" way the original last paragraph was constructed; it just looked too editorial for a encyclopaedia article. I do feel that both points of view are adequately represented (but I also thought both povs were represented in my original edit, so go figure). Sysin

Etymology of the word Moreas. Moreas is written with an omicron, not an omega, "Μορέας", not "Μωρέας", so it is more plausible that it derives from the mulberry tree, "μουριά" rather than "μωρός". Vasmer in Slaven 2 rejected the Slavic derivation, plus I could not find any definition of "μωρός" as a brigand, either in contemporary lexica or a modern one of medieval Greek. I suggest that the derivation from "μωρός" is deleted, as it is not supported. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.211.2.37 (talk) 20:14, 19 September 2007 (UTC)