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Genova

Genova

:For alternate uses see Genoa (disambiguation). Genoa (disambiguation) Genoa (disambiguation) Genoa (Italian Genova, Genoese Zena, French Gênes, German Genua, Spanish Genova) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of ca. 600,000, the metropolitan area has a population of ca. 800,000. Genua was a city of the ancient Ligurians. Its name is probably Ligurian, meaning "knee" (from Proto-Indo-European
- genu 'knee'), i.e. "angle", from its geographical position, thus akin to the name of Geneva. Alternatively, the name has been claimed to derive from Latin Janua ("gate"), the two-headed god Janus, or an ancient word that means "foreigners", as the early settlers were considered foreign by the neighbouring population.

History

Ancient history

Genoa's history goes back to ancient times. A city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbor probably was in use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. Destroyed by the Carthaginians in 209 BC, the town was rebuilt by Rome, under which the city enjoyed municipal rights and exported skins, wood, and honey. Although remaining faithful to Rome while other Ligurian and Celtic peoples of northern Italy stood by Carthaginians in the Second Punic War, its importance as a Roman port city was eclipsed by the rise of Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Genoa was occupied by the Ostrogoths , then by the Lombards. For the following several centuries, Genoa was little more than a small, obscure fishing center. It was subsequently ruled by Arabs until after the fall of the Fatimid Empire.

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Before 1100, Genoa emerged as an independent city-state. Nominally, the Holy Roman Emperor was overlord and the Bishop of Genoa was president of the city; however, actual power was wielded by a number of "consuls" annually elected by popular assembly. Genoa was one of the so-called "Maritime Republics" (Repubbliche Marinare), along with Venice, Pisa, and Amalfi) and trade, shipbuilding and banking helped support one of the largest and most powerful navies in the Mediterranean. The Republic of Genoa extended over modern Liguria and Piedmont, Sardinia, Corsica and had practically complete control of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Through Genoese participation on the Crusades, colonies were established in the Mideast, in the Aegean in Sicily and Northern Africa. Genoese Crusaders brought home a green glass goblet from the Levant, which Genoese long regarded as the Holy Grail. The collapse of the Crusader States was offset by Genoa’s alliance with the Byzantine Empire, which opened opportunities of expansion into the Black Sea and Crimea. Internal feuds between the powerful families, the Grimaldi, Doria, Spinola, and others caused much disruption, but in general the republic was run much as a business affair. Genoa's political zenith came with its victory over Pisa in 1284, and its persistent rival, Venice, in 1298. However, this prosperity did not last. The Black Death was imported into Europe in 1349 from the Genoese trading post at Kaffa (Feodosiya) in the Crimea, on the Black Sea. Following the economic and population collapse, Genoa adopted the Venetian model of government, and was presided over by a doge (see Doges of Genoa). The wars with Venice continued, and the War of Chioggia (1378-1381), ended with a victory for Venice. After a period of French domination from 1394-1409, Genoa came under rule by the Visconti of Milan. Genoa lost Sardinia to Aragon, Corsica to internal revolt and its Middle Eastern colonies to the Ottoman Empire and the Arabs. Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, donated one-tenth of his income from the discovery of the Americas for Spain to the Bank of San Giorgio in Genoa for the relief of taxation on foods. The Spanish connection was reinforced by Andrea Doria, who established a new constitution in 1528, making Genoa a satellite of the Spanish Empire. Under the ensuing economic recovery, many Genoese family amassed tremendous fortunes. At the time of Genoa’s peak in the 16th century, the city attracted many artists, including Rubens, Caravaggio, and Van Dyke. The famed architect Galeazzo Alessi (1512-1572) designed many of the city’s splendid palazzo. Genoa suffered from French bombardment in 1684, and was occupied by Austria in 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1768, Genoa was forced to cede Corsica to France. War of the Austrian Succession

Later history

However, with the shift in world economy and trade routes to the New World and away from the Mediterranean, Genoa's political and economic power went into steady decline. In 1797, under pressure from Napoleon, Genoa became a French protectorate called the Ligurian Republic, which was annexed by France in 1805. Although the Genoese revolted against France in 1814 and liberated the city on their own, delegates at the Congress of Vienna sanctioned its incorporation into Piedmont (Kingdom of Sardinia), thus ending the three century old struggle by the House of Savoy to acquire the city. The city soon gained a reputation as a hotbed of anti-Savoy republican agitation, although the union with Savoy was economically very beneficial. With the growth of the Risorgimento movement, the Genoese turned their struggles from Giuseppe Mazzini's vision of a local republic into a struggle for a unified Italy under a liberalized Savoy monarchy. In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi set out from Genoa with a over a thousand volunteers to begin the campaign. Famous Genoese include Christopher Columbus, Admiral Andrea Doria, violinist Niccolò Paganini and Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini.

Demographics

The population is quite homogenous Italian. Southern and northern Italians alike have flocked to the city during the late 1900's. An estimated 95.3% of the population is of Italian origin. But there has been a sharp increase of immigrants mostly from South America, Eastern Europe, and a very meagre number from Asia. [http://demo.istat.it/str2004/index.html] Immigrants by country (2004)
- Ecuadorians - 10,169
- Albanians - 2,781
- Moroccans - 2,189
- Peruvians - 1,795
- Chinese - 910
- Romanians - 746

Miscellaneous

- The port of Genoa is the first in Italy. It ranks second in the Mediterranean after neighbouring Marseille, France.
- The Aquarium of Genoa is the largest in Europe.
- Other landmarks of the city are the Palazzo Ducale (Genoa)|Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace), St. Lawrence Cathedral (Cattedrale di San Lorenzo), The Old Harbor (Porto Antico), transformed into a mall by architect Renzo Piano, Via Garibaldi with its superb palaces and the monumental cemetery on Staglieno's hill.
- The Museo d'Arte Orientale is one of the largest collections of Oriental art in Europe.
- The University of Genoa, with 40,000 students (one of the larger universities in Italy,) was founded in 1481.
- Genoa Cricket & Football Club founded in 1893.
- UC Sampdoria, football club founded in 1946.
- The 27th G8 summit took place in Genoa in July 2001, resulting in riots and the shooting of a protestor and a violent crackdown by the police.
- For 2004, the European Union designated Genoa as European Capital of Culture, along with the French City of Lille.
- In 1922 the Genoa Conference was the first economic conference that included a representitative from the newly-communist Soviet Socialist Republics.

External links

Ligurian language
- [http://www.sampdoria.it UC Sampdoria - the main football club]
- [http://www.genoacfc.it Genoa Cricket and Football Club]
- [http://www.comune.genova.it/index.jsp Official Site]
- [http://digilander.libero.it/fotogian/genova.html Photos of Genoa]
- [http://www.italianvisits.com/liguria/genoa/ ItalianVisits.com]
- it.wiki:Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno
- [http://www.genova-2004.it/aeimages/mappa_genova.jpg Bird's eye view map of Genoa] Category:Italian Riviera Category:Coastal cities Category:World Heritage Sites in Italy Category:Repubbliche Marinare of Italy ko:제노바 ja:ジェノヴァ

Genoa (disambiguation)

Genoa is primarily used to refer to Genoa (Genova in Italian Language), a city and port in Liguria, Italy. It is also the short name for Genoa Cricket & Football Club, a football (soccer) team based in Genoa. It is also used for several localities in the United States:
- Genoa, Colorado
- Genoa, Illinois
- Genoa, Nebraska
- Genoa, Nevada
- Genoa, New York
- Genoa, Ohio
- Genoa, Wisconsin
- Genoa (town), Wisconsin
- Genoa City, Wisconsin
- Genoa Township, Michigan
- Genoa Township, Texas (former) There is also:
- A genoa (sail), a type of sail
- A pun using the phonetic similarity of Genoa to "do you know her" (d'y know 'er) that was a popular joke in Colchester in the early 1990s

Genoese dialect

Genoese (Zeneize or Zena) is a variant of the Ligurian language spoken in Genoa, Italy, the principal city of Liguria. Along with Ligurian, it is of Gallo-Italic Romance derivation. In terms of differences from Standard (Tuscan) Italian, Ligurian and Genoese exhibit some similarities with French, and there are also influences from German. The language is dying out but still is spoken by much of the senior citizen population. There was a small-scale prominence of Genoese vernacular literature, especially in the 19th century; this was not sufficient enough, however, to see the development of regularization of spelling or grammar. Genoese pronunciation includes certain influences from French, including the uvular Parisian r (which extends also when speaking standard [Tuscan] Italian). Variants differing in pronunciation include those to the east of Genoa (Nervi, Quinto, Quarto), to the west(Voltri, Prà, Pegli, Sestri), and in the central Polcevera valley and Bisagno.

Tongue twisters

- So asæ se a sâ a l'e asæ pe saâ a säsissa = I don't know if the salt is enough to salt the sausage :(Non so se il sale basta per salare la salciccia)
- Scia scie scignua, sciando scia xoa in sci scï = Ski, madam, skying and flying on skis :(Scii, signora, sciando vola sugli sci)
- In sciô mœ nœo ghe nœe nae nœe; a ciû nœa de nœe nae nœe a n'œ anâ = At the new pier there are nine new ships; the newest of the nine new ships won't move) :(Sul molo nuovo ci sono nove navi nuove; la più nuova delle nove navi nuove non vuole andare)
- Giangiai ghan gioggi giuegge giunge cume giatri? = Do angels have eyes, ears, and (finger)nails like everyone else? :(Gli angeli hanno occhi orecchie ed unghie come gli altri?) [variant of the Cogorno comune].

Expressions

- Sun zeneize, rizo rêo, strenzo i denti e parlo chêo (Sono genovese, rido poco e stringendo i denti dico ciò che penso [parlo chiaro]) = "I'm Genoese, I laugh little, brush my teeth, and say what I mean" (lit. "speak clearly) :also :
- Sun zeneise risou reu, strinsu i denti e parlo cheu (Sono genovese, rido di rado, stringo i denti e parlo chiaro.)
- Al bambino che si lamenta Ho famme, facilmente la mamma gli risponde: Grattite e zenugge e fatte e lasagne (grattati le ginocchia e fatti le lasagne) = Grate your knees and make lasagna
- puscito ese alûghetôo (Possa tu essere portato via (?): è una imprecazione con cui si manda a quel paese qualcuno che l'ha fatta grossa.)
- Chi veû vive da bôn cristian, da-i begghin u stagghe lôntan (Chi vuole vivere da buon cristiano, dai beghini (i falsi devoti) stia lontano) = If you want to live as a good Christian, stay away from those who pretend to be devout; a traditional warning to beware of fanatics and hypocrites.
- A l'è meggiû e braghe sguarèe 'ntô cû, che ô cû sguarôu in t'e braghe. (Meglio avere i pantaloni aperti nel sedere, che il sedere aperto nei pantaloni) = It is better to have trousers that are torn in the ass, than to have ass that is torn in trousers.

Phonology

Genoese has 8 vowels, 20 consonants, and 3 semivowels. Vowels:
- a barba /'barba/ (zio=uncle; It. barba=beard)
- e tésta /'testa/ (testa=head)
- E ægua /'E:gwa/ (acqua=water)
- i bibin /bi'biN/ (tacchino)
- O côse /'kO:se/ (che cosa?=what?)
- ø frisciœ /fri'Sø:/ (frittella)
- u cumme /'kumme/ (come?=how?)
- y fygassa /fy'gassa/ (focaccia, a bread)

External links

- [http://www.geocities.com/ziardua/funulugiamp3/suoniitaNS.html Genoese phonology (Italian)]
- [http://spazioinwind.libero.it/paolore/genovese2.html How to write Genoese (Italian)] Category:Romance languages Category:Languages of Italy Category:Genoa

French language

French (French: français) is the third of the Romance languages in terms of number of speakers, after Spanish and Portuguese, being spoken by about 67 million people as a mother tongue, and altogether by some 128 million people, which includes second-language speakers who use French for daily communication. French is thus the 18^th most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, and 9^th in terms of daily speakers. It is an official language in 29 countries. It is also an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations (such as the European Union, IOC, United Nations and Universal Postal Union). Before World War II, French was considered the international language, particularly in such fields as diplomacy, trade, shipping, and transportation.

History

The Roman invasion of Gaul

The French language is a Romance language, meaning that it is descended from Latin. Before the Roman invasion of what is modern-day France by Julius Cæsar (58–52 BC), France was inhabited largely by a Celtic people that the Romans referred to as Gauls, although there were also other linguistic/ethnic groups in France at this time, such as the Iberians in southern France and Spain, the Ligurians on the Mediterranean coast, Greek colonies such as Massalia (i.e. present-day Marseille), Phoenician outposts, and the Vascons on the Spanish/French border. Although in the past many Frenchmen liked to refer to their descent from Gallic ancestors (nos ancêtres les Gaulois), perhaps fewer than 200 words with a Celtic etymological origin remain in French today (largely place and plant names and words dealing with rural life and the earth). In the reverse direction, some words for Gallic objects which were new to the Romans and for which there were no words in Latin were imported into Latin – for example, clothing items such as les braies. Latin quickly became the lingua franca of the entire Gallic region for mercantile, official and educational purposes, yet it should be remembered that this was Vulgar Latin, the colloquial dialect spoken by the Roman army and its agents and not the literary dialect of Cicero.

The Franks

From the third century on, Western Europe was invaded by Germanic tribes from the east, and some of these groups settled in Gaul. For the history of the French language, the most important of these groups are the Franks in northern France, the Alemanni in the German/French border, the Burgundians in the Rhone valley and the Visigoths in the Aquitaine region and Spain. These Germanic-speaking groups had a profound effect on the Latin spoken in their respective regions, altering both the pronunciation and the syntax. They also introduced a number of new words: perhaps as much as 15% of modern French comes from Germanic words, including many terms and expressions associated with their social structure and military tactics.

Langue d'Oïl

Linguists typically divide the languages spoken in medieval France into three geographical subgroups: Langue d'oïl and Langue d'oc are the two major groups; the third group, Franco-Provençal, is considered a transitional language between the two other groups. The Oïl–Oc divide is broadly comparable to the divide illustrated by the use of "yes" in English and "aye" in Scots. Langue d'oïl, the languages which use oïl (in modern usage, oui) for "yes", is the language group in the north of France. These languages, like Picard, Walloon, Francien and Norman, were influenced by the Germanic languages spoken by the Frankish invaders. From the time period Clovis I on, the Franks extended their rule over northern Gaul. Over time, the French language developed from either the Oïl language found around Paris (the Francien theory) or from a standard administrative language based on common characteristics found in all Oïl languages (the lingua franca theory). Langue d'oc, the languages which use oc for "yes", is the language group in the south of France and northern Spain. These languages, such as Gascon and Provençal, have relatively little Frankish influence. (Modern French has two words for "yes", oui and si; the latter is used to contradict negative statements. Si derives from Latin sic "thus", and is cognate to the word for "yes" in Spanish, Italian, and Catalan. Oïl/oui derive, according to Larousse, from Latin hoc ille "thus he (did)".)

Other linguistic groups

The early middle ages also saw the influence of other linguistic groups on the dialects of France: From the 5th to the 8th centuries, Celtic-speaking peoples from southwestern Britain (Wales, Cornwall, Devon) travelled across the English Channel, both for reasons of trade and as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England. They established themselves in Bretagne (Brittany). Their language was a dialect of the Brythonic languages, which has been named Breton in more recent centuries. It is part of the larger Celtic language family, though the modern dialects reflect a noticeable influence from French in their vocabulary. From the 6th to the 7th centuries, the Vascons crossed over the Pyrénées, a mountain range in the south of France. Their presence influenced the Occitan language spoken in southwestern France, resulting in the dialect called Gascon. Scandinavian vikings invaded France from the 9th century onwards and established themselves in what would come to be called Normandie (Normandy). They took up the langue d'oïl spoken there and contributed many words to French related to maritime activities, amongst other things. With their conquest of England in 1066, the Normans brought their language. The dialect that developed there as a language of administration and literature is referred to as Anglo-Norman. Anglo-Norman served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce in England from the time of the conquest until 1362, when the use of English became dominant again. Because of the Norman Conquest, the English language has borrowed a considerable amount of its vocabulary from French. The Arab peoples also supplied many words to French around this time period, including words for luxury goods, spices, trade stuffs, sciences and mathematics.

History of French

For the period up to around 1300, some linguists refer to the oïl languages collectively as Old French (ancien français). The earliest extant text in French is the Oaths of Strasbourg from 842; Old French became a literary language with the chansons de geste that told tales of the paladins of Charlemagne and the heroes of the Crusades. By the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings in France, ousting the Latin that had been used before then. With the imposition of a standardised chancery dialect and the loss of the declension system, the dialect is referred to as Middle French (moyen français). Following a period of unification, regulation and purification, the French of the 17th to the 18th centuries is sometimes referred to as Classical French (français classique), although many linguists simply refer to French language from the 17th century to today as Modern French (français moderne). The foundation of the Académie française (French Academy) in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu created an official body whose goal has been the purification and preservation of the French language. This group of 40 members is known as the Immortals, not, as some erroneously believe, because they are chosen to serve for the extent of their lives (which they are), but because of the inscription engraved on the official seal given to them by their founder Richelieu—"À l'immortalité" ("to the Immortality (of the French language)"). The foundation still exists and contributes to the policing of the language and the adaptation of foreign words and expressions. Some recent modifications include the change from software to logiciel, packet-boat to paquebot, and riding-coat to redingote. The word ordinateur for computer was however not created by the Académie, but by a linguist appointed by IBM (see :fr:ordinateur). From the 17th to the 19th centuries, France was the leading power of continental Europe; thanks to this, together with the influence of the Enlightenment, French was the lingua franca of educated Europe, especially with regards to the arts, literature, and diplomacy; monarchs like Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia could both speak and write in French. Through the Académie, public education, centuries of official control and the role of media, a unified official French language has been forged, but there remains a great deal of diversity today in terms of regional accents and words. For some critics, the "best" pronunciation of the French language is considered to be the one used in Touraine (around Tours and the Loire River valley), but such value judgments are fraught with problems, and with the ever increasing loss of lifelong attachments to a specific region and the growing importance of the national media, the future of specific "regional" accents is difficult to predict.

Modern issues

There is some debate in today's France about the preservation of the French language and the influence of English (see franglais), especially with regard to international business, the sciences and popular culture. There have been laws (see Toubon law) enacted which require that all print ads and billboards with foreign expressions include a French translation and which require quotas of French-language songs (at least 40%) on the radio. There is also pressure, in differing degrees, from some regions as well as minority political or cultural groups for a measure of recognition and support for their regional languages.

Geographic distribution

regional language
French is an official language in the following countries or parts thereof: La Francophonie is an international organization of French-speaking countries and governments.

Legal status in France

Per the Constitution of France, French is the official language of the Republic since 1792 [http://www.languefrancaise.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=50]. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education outside of specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. See Toubon Law. Contrary to a misunderstanding common in the American and British media, France does not prohibit the use of foreign words in websites or any other private publication, which would anyway contradict constitutional guarantees on freedom of speech. The misunderstanding may have arisen from a similar prohibition in the Canadian province of Quebec which made strict application of the Charter of the French Language between 1977 and 1993, although these regulations addressed language used in advertising and the provision of commercial services offered within the province, not the language of private communication. There exist in addition to French a variety of languages spoken in France by minorities; see Languages of France.

Legal status in Canada

About 12% of the world's francophones are Canadian, and French is one of Canada's two official languages, with English; various provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with the right of Canadians to access services in English and French all across Canada. By law, the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French; proceedings of the Parliament of Canada must be translated into both English and French; and all Canadian products must be labelled in both English and French. Overall about 22% of Canadians speak French as a first language and 18% are bilingual. French has been the only official language of Quebec since 1974, although it is commonly (and incorrectly) believed that the designation of French as the sole official language occurred in 1977 with the adoption of the Charter of the French Language (which is popularly referred to as Bill 101). By far the provision of Bill 101 with the most significant impact has been that which mandates French-language education, unless a child's parents or siblings have received the major part of their own education in English within Canada. That provision has reversed a historical trend whereby a large number of immigrant children were being sent to English schools by their parents. In so doing, Bill 101 has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (French face) of Quebec. Other provisions of Bill 101, on the other hand, have been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating French-only commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. Some of those provisions have remained in effect, for a while, using the constitutional "notwithstanding" clause that permits a non-compliant law to temporarily remain. No "notwithstanding provision" is currently in effect. In 1993 the Charter was changed to allow signage in other languages so long as French is markedly "predominant". The Charter also provides for a measure of access by Anglophones to health and social services in their own language. The only province which has French as an official language is New Brunswick. In Ontario and Manitoba, French does not have full official status, although the provincial governments do provide full French-language services in all communities where significant numbers of francophones live. All of the other provinces do make some effort to accommodate the needs of their francophone citizens, although the level and quality of French-language service varies significantly from province to province.

Legal status in Switzerland

French is an official language in Switzerland. It is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandy.

Dialects of French

- Acadian French
- African French
- Belgian French
- Cajun French
- Canadian French
- Cambodian French
- Louisiana Creole French
- français d'Aoste
- français-germanique
- Indian French
- Levantine French
- Maghreb French
- Newfoundland French
- North American French
- Oceanic French
- Quebec French
- South East Asian French
- Swiss French
- West Indian French
- [http://www.linguasphere.org/langues_romanes.pdf linguasphere on Romance languages]

Languages derived from French

- Antillean Creole
- Haitian Creole
- Lanc-Patuá
- Mauritian Creole
- Michif
- Louisiana Creole French
- Réunionese Creole
- Seychellois Creole
- Tay Boi

Sounds

:Main article: French phonology and orthography French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are:
- liaison or linking: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m, are normally silent. (The final letters 'c', 'r', 'f', and 'l' however are normally pronounced.) When the following word begins with a vowel, though, a silent consonant may once again be pronounced, to provide a "link" between the two words and avoid a glottal stop between them. Some liaisons are mandatory, for example the s in les amants or vous avez; some are optional, depending on dialect and register, for example the first s in deux cents euros or euros irlandais; and some are forbidden, for example the s in beaucoup d'hommes aiment. The t of et is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in set phrases like pied-à-terre. Doubling a final consonant and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g. Parisien → Parisienne) makes it clearly pronounced, always.
- elision or vowel dropping: Monosyllabic words such as je or que drop their final vowel before another word beginning with a vowel. The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g. je ai is instead pronounced and spelt → j'ai)
- nasal "n" and "m". When "n" or "m" follows a vowel combination, the "n" and "m" become silent and cause the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e. pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air to leave through the nostrils). Exceptions are when the "n" or "m" is doubled, or immediately followed by a vowel. The prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized. The rules get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
- digraphs French does not introduce extra letters or diacritics to specify its large range of vowel sounds and diphthongs, rather it uses specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended. (See French phonology and orthography or [http://www.languageguide.org/francais/grammar/pronunciation/ French Pronunciation Guide] for more details.)
- accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes for etymology alone.
- Accents that affect pronunciation:
- "é", is pronounced instead of the defaults or,
- "è" (e.g., secrète) means that the vowel is pronounced (as usual),
- dieresis (e.g. naïve, Noël) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one (or following one in some cases), not combined,
- the "ç" means that the letter c is pronounced in front of A, O, or U. ("c" is otherwise hard before a hard vowel.)
- The circumflex (e.g. pâté, forêt) shows that an e is pronounced and that an o is pronounced . In some dialects it also signifies a pronunciation of for the letter a, but this differentiation is disappearing. It usually indicates a former long vowel created by the dropping of an "s" from the Latin root (as in English "paste", "forest"),
- Accents with no pronunciation effect:
- The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, and in most dialects, a as well.
- All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words or for etymological reasons, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la and the conjunction ou ("the fem. sing.", "or") respectively.

Grammar

:Main article: French grammar French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including:
- the loss of Latin's declensions
- only two grammatical genders
- the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives
- new tenses formed from auxiliaries French word order is Subject Verb Object, except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb.

Vocabulary

Word origins

The majority of French words derive from vernacular or "vulgar" Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin. Example:
- brother: frère (brother) / fraternel
- finger: doigt / digital
- faith: foi (faith) / fidèle
- cold: froid / frigide
- eye: œil / oculaire The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognisable than Italian words of Latin origin because as French developed into a separate language from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was dropped or elided into the following word. It is estimated that 12 percent (4,200) of common French words found in a typical dictionary such as the Petit Larousse or Micro-Robert Plus (35,000 words) are of foreign origin. About 25 percent (1,054) of these foreign words come from English and are fairly recent borrowings. The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient Germanic languages, 481 from ancient Gallo-Romance languages, 215 from Arabic, 164 from German, 160 from Celtic languages, 159 from Spanish, 153 from Dutch, 112 from Persian and Sanskrit, 101 from Native American languages, 89 from other Asian languages, 56 from Afro-Asiatic languages, 55 from Slavic languages and Baltic languages, and 144 from other languages (3 percent of the total). Source: Henriette Walter, Gérard Walter, Dictionnaire des mots d'origine étrangère, 1998.

Levels of register

French, like many other languages, possesses a continuum of several levels of register. The colloquial register is used in almost any circumstance of life, and should not be confused with slang or rude talk. Formal French is used in writing or in formal occasions (when people make official speeches or when they are interviewed on television, for instance). Some level of formality is also normally used in classrooms in France, although colloquial French is now spoken by more and more professors with their students. Colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of grammar. For instance, the negation in formal French is "ne... pas", whereas in colloquial French it is simply "... pas", such as "I don't think so", which is "Je ne crois pas" in formal French, and "Je crois pas" in colloquial French. Another example of change in grammar is the way to ask a question: by inverting verb and subject in formal French, or also by using "est-ce que", whereas in colloquial French a question is phrased exactly as an affirmation, with the voice rising in the end. E.g.: "Is he sick?" would be "Est-il malade?" or "Est-ce qu'il est malade?" in formal French, and "Il est malade?" in colloquial French. On the other hand, questions with "est-ce que" are more colloquial than using inversion. Secondly, colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of pronunciation. Some words undergo shortening, or sound change, whereas some syllables are dropped altogether. For instance, "yes" is "oui" in formal French, and becomes "ouais" in colloquial French; "I" is "je" in formal French, but becomes "j' " in colloquial French; so a sentence like "I think he'll come" is "Je pense qu'il viendra" in formal French, and "J'pense qu'i'viendra" in colloquial French. There are many instances of shortening of words, such as "teacher", which is "professeur" in formal French, but becomes "prof'" in colloquial French.

Counting system

The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty () is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70-99. So for example, means 4 times 20, i.e. is the French word for 80, and (literally "sixty-fifteen") means 75. This is comparable to archaic English use of "score", as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70). Belgian French and Swiss French are different in this respect.

Writing system

French is written using the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and two ligatures (æ, œ). French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. However, some conscious changes were also made to restore Latin orthography:
- Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum)
- Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem) As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel. For example, all of these words end in a vowel sound: nez, pied, aller, les, finit, beaux. The same words followed by a vowel, however, may sound the consonants, as they do in these examples: beaux-arts, les amis, pied-à-terre. On the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable sound, and the Académie française works hard to enforce and update this correspondence. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme. The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.
- grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). Over an e, indicates the sound .
- acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound , the ai sound in such words as English hay or neigh. It often indicates the historical deletion of a following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter.
- circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û): Over an e or o, indicates the sound or , respectively. Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension, it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to owe"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu).
- diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. Diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses) and in modern editions of old French texts. Since the 1990 orthographic rectifications, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) was moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe. Words coming from German retain the old Umlaut if applicable but uses French pronounciation, such as capharnaüm(mess).
- cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced when it would otherwise be pronounced /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with c = before e), je lançai "I threw" (c would be pronounced before a without the cedilla). The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words (sœur "sister" , œuvre "work [of art]" , cœur "heart" , cœlacanthe "Coelacanth" ), sometimes in words of Greek origin, spelled with an οι diphthong which became oe in Latin, pronounced in French (and other Romance languages): œsophage , œnologie . It may also appear in œu digraph (or œ alone in œil "eye"), in words that were once written with eu digraph (which could be read or , depending on the word): bœuf "ox" (Old French buef or beuf), mœurs "custom", œil "eye" , etc. In these cases, the Latin etymon must be spelled with an o where the French word has œu: bovem > bœuf, mores > mœurs, oculum > œil. Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.

Some common phrases

- French: français ("fran-seh")
- hello: bonjour ("bon-zhoor")
- I love you.: Je t'aime. ("jhe tem")
- My name is _____: Je m'appelle _____ ("jhe-ma-pelle")
- good-bye: au revoir ("o-ruh-vwar")
- please: s'il vous plaît (Literally: if it please you) ("sill voo pleh")
- thank you: merci ("mairr-see")
- you are welcome: de rien (Literally: Of nothing) ("duh ryeh"), je vous en prie, il n'y a pas de quoi (France); bienvenue ("byeh-venuh") (Quebec)
- that one: celui-là ("su-lwee la"), colloq. ("swee la"), or celle-là (feminine) ("cell-la")
- how much?: combien? ("kom-byen")
- English: anglais ("ahng-gleh")
- yes: oui ("wee"), colloq. ouais (seldom written) ("way")
- no: non ("non")
- I am sorry: Je suis désolé(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine); ("zhahn swee deh-zo-leh"), colloq. ("shswee deh-zo-leh"). Pardon ("par-dohn")
- I do not understand: Je ne comprends pas. ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa"), colloq. Je comprends pas (with dropping of "ne") ("shcomprahn pa")
- Where are the toilets?: Où sont les toilettes ? ("oo son leh twa-let")
- Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin ("chin"), Santé ("san-teh") or À la vôtre ("a la votr")
- Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? ("par-leh voo ang-gleh") OR "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" ("voo par-leh ang-leh")
- Excuse me: Excusez-moi. ("eh-skyu-zay mwa")
- Good night: Bonne nuit ("bun nwee")
- Hi!: Salut ! ("sal-oo")
- I am tired: Je suis fatigué(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine) ("jhe swee fah-tee-gay")
- Are you coming?: Venez vous ?, Est-ce que vous venez ? (or with close friends and relatives: tu viens?)
- I am thinking about it: J'y pense. ("jhee pahnss")
- I am going to the grocery store: Je vais à l'épicerie. ("jhe vay a lay-pee-ser-ee")
- We are going to school: On va à l'école. (colloquial) ("ohn va a lay-cohl")
- She is so pretty.: Elle est si jolie. ("el ay see jho-lee")
- our neighbors to the South: Nos voisins du sud ("noh vwah-zen due sued")
- Could you help me?: Pourriez-vous m'aider ? ("poo-ree-ay voo may-day")
- May I help you?: Puis-je vous aider? ("pwee-jha voo zay-day")
- It is the best of worlds: C'est le meilleur des mondes. ("say le may-yuhr day mohnd")
- Go to bed!: Va te coucher ! ("vah te coo-shay")
- I'm watching TV.: Je regarde la télé. ("jhe re-gard lah tay-lay")
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. ("wee-kee-pay-dee-ah, lahns-ee-kloh-pay-dee lee-bruh")
- I am the state.: L'État, c'est moi. ("leh-tah seh-mwa")

External links

-
- [http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?k1=33 All free French dictionaries] Collection of free French dictionaries.
- [http://www.declan-software.com/french French language learning audio software]
- [http://www.window.to/french/ Learn French online]
- [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/ Académie Française]
- [http://french.about.com/library/begin/bl_begin_vocab.htm Beginning French Vocabulary]
- [http://radio-canada.ca/education/francaismicro/ Capsules linguistiques - Radio-Canada.ca]
- [http://www.moelc.moe.edu.sg/french/ Département de Français, Ministry of Education Language Centre, Singapore]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra Ethnologue report for French]
- [http://www.sprachprofi.de.vu/english/f.htm Free online resources for learners]
- [http://www.lexilogos.com/french_language_dictionary.htm French-English : all online dictionaries]
- [http://www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/ French Language Course]
- [http://www.ielanguages.com/french.html French Language Tutorial at ielanguages.com]
- [http://www.intuxication.org/~webtypo/le_francais_facile.htm Le français facile]
- [http://portal.wikinerds.org/rapidfrench How to learn French in 10 months]
- [http://dhost.info/defu/wiki/index.php?id=French_accentuation_rules Basic tips of French accentuation]
- [http://www.languagehelpers.com/words/french/basics.html LanguageHelpers]
- [http://www.lightandmatter.com/french/ Liberté, an online first-year French textbook]
- [http://www.listenandlearn.org/learn/french/index.php Learn French by reading and listening]
- [http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/french/index.html A profile of the French language]
- [http://dhost.info/defu/wiki/index.php?id=Virtual_French_Keyboard A virtual French keyboard]
- [http://linearb.co.uk:8080/memory/ Searchable French-English dictionary, with example sentences]
- [http://atilf.atilf.fr/ Le Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé] (very comprehensive)
- [http://truckspeak.monsite.wanadoo.fr Truck Drivers' French - English, English - French Dictionary]
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=3&learn-French/ Listen to useful French expressions]
- [http://www.FrenchLanguageTips.com/ Learn French Fast & Easy]
- [http://www.wordreference.com/ Wordreference.com dictionary]
- [http://www.my-french-dictionary.com/ My French Picture Dictionary] Category:French language Category:Oïl languages Category:Languages of Belgium Category:Languages of Canada Category:Languages of France Category:Languages of Luxembourg Category:Languages of Switzerland Category:Languages of French Guiana Category:Languages of Morocco Category:Languages of French Polynesia Category:Languages of Wallis and Futuna Category:Languages of New Caledonia Category:Synthetic languages Category:Guttural R als:Französische Sprache zh-min-nan:Hoat-gí ko:프랑스어 ja:フランス語 simple:French language th:ภาษาฝรั่งเศส

Seaport

]] A port is a facility at the edge of an ocean, river, or lake for receiving ships and transferring cargo and persons to them. Ports have specially-designed equipment to help in the loading and unloading of these vessels. Cranes and refrigerated storage may be provided by private interests or public bodies. Often, canneries or other processing facilities will be located very close by. Ports tend to be divided into container terminals. The term seaport is used for ports that handle ocean-going vessels, and river port is used for facilities that handle river traffic. Sometimes a port on a lake or river also has access to the ocean, and is then referred to as an inland port. A fishing port is a type of port or harbor facility particularly suitable for landing and distributing fish. A dry port is a term sometimes used to describe a yard used to place containers or conventional bulk cargo, usually connected to a seaport by rail or road. While the term airport is derived from port, such places are never referred to as ports, except when international airports (as well as some land border crossings) are referred to as ports of entry. The presence of deep water in channels or berths, the provision of protection from the wind, waves and storm surges and access to intermodal transportation such as trains or trucks are critical to the functioning of seaports and river ports. Cargo containers allow for efficient transport and distribution as each product, box and bulk cargo do not need to be loaded individually at each transportation point, making the loading and unloading process more efficient. Cargo can be sealed at point of origin, transported via intermodal transport, before being stacked and loaded on container ships. These are then ultimately opened at final point of resale or destination. This is a vital part of modern retailing Just in Time Delivery strategies. Seaports and river ports are often equipped with large cranes for the loading and unloading of containers from container ships. These are usually operated by stevedores. Pilots and tugboats are also used to safely maneuver the ships in tight quarters.

Major ports

- Port of Busan
- Port of Chiba
- Port of Dubai
- Port of Hamburg
- Port of Hong Kong
- Port of Houston
- Port of Kaohsiung
- Port Klang
- Port of Long Beach
- Port of Los Angeles
- Port of New York/New Jersey
- Port of Rotterdam
- Port of Shanghai
- Port of Shenzhen
- Port of Singapore
- Port of South Louisiana

External links

- [http://www.aapa-ports.org/industryinfo/statistics.htm Port rankings from the AAPA]
- [http://www.aapa-ports.org/pdf/WORLD_PORT_RANKINGS_2002.xls World Port Rankings 2002, by metric tons and by TEUs, American Association of Port Authorities] (xls format, 26.5kb)
- [http://www.noonsite.com/text/Countries Information on 1,613 ports in 191 countries from Noonsite.com] Port ko:항구 ja:港湾 simple:Port

Province of Genoa

Genoa (It. Provincia di Genova) is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Genoa. It has an area of 1,838 sq km, and a total population of 878,082 (2001). There are 67 communes in the province (source: Italian institute of statistics Istat, see [http://www.upinet.it/indicatore.asp?id_statistiche=6 this link]). Genoa ja:ジェノヴァ県

Region

Region can be used to mean either:
- any more or less well-defined geographical area of a country or continent, defined by geography, culture or history
- in political geography, an administrative subdivision of a country or of the European Union. It is a common English translation of the Russian and Ukrainian administrative subdivision область (oblast) It is worth noting that regions are found in the minds of humans and so regions can be of any size and that each region is unique in its own way. The term also has a more specific use in relation to DVDs; see also regional lockout. For the place-name Region in the works of JRR Tolkien, see Region (Middle-earth).

Administrative regions

The word "region" is taken from the Latin regio, and a number of countries have borrowed the term as the formal name for a type of subnational entity (eg, the región, used in Chile). In English, the word is also used as the conventional translation for equivalent terms in other languages (eg, the область (oblast), used in Russia alongside with a broader term регион).
Countries using administrative regions
The following countries use the term "region" (or its cognate) as the name of a type of subnational entity:
- Belgium (in French, région; in German, Region; the term gewest is used in Dutch)
- Chile (región)
- Congo (région)
- Côte d'Ivoire (région)
- Denmark (effective from 2007)
- France (région)
- Ghana
- Hungary (régió)
- Italy (regione)
- Mali (région)
- Namibia
- New Zealand
- Peru (región)
- Tanzania
- Togo (région) The Canadian province of Québec also uses the "administrative region" (région administrative). Prior to 1996, Scotland was also divided into regions. The government of the Philippines uses the region (in Filipino, rehiyon) when it's necessary to group provinces, the primary administrative subdivision of the country. this is also the case in Brazil which groups its primary administrative divisions (estados; "states") into grandes regiões (≈"greater regions") for statistical purposes, while Russia uses экономические районы ("economic regions") in a similar way. The government of Singapore makes use of regions for its own administrative purposes. Similarly, the British government also makes limited use of regions for England. The following countries use an administrative subdivision conventionally referred to as a region in English:
- Russia, which uses the область (oblast).
- Ukraine, which uses the область (oblast). China has five 自治区 (zìzhìqū) and two 特別行政區 (or 特别行政区; tèbiéxíngzhèngqū) which are conventionally translated as "autonomous region" and "special administrative region", respectively.
Geographical regions
A region can also be used for a geographical area; with this usage, there is an implied distinctiveness about the area that defines it. Such a distinction is often made on the basis of a historical, political, or cultural cohesiveness that separates the region from its neighbours. Geographical regions can be found within a country (eg, the Midlands, in England), or transnationally (eg, the Middle-East).
Examples of geographical regions

- Geographical regions in Serbia and Montenegro
- Historical regions of Central Europe
- Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula
- List of regions in Australia
- List of regions of Canada
- List of regions of the United States
- List of traditional regions of Slovakia
- Regions of Japan
See also

- Autonomous region
- Committee of the Regions
- Euroregion
- Latin names of regions
- Regional district
- Regional municipality Category:Regions ja:地方

Ligures

The Ligures (Ligurians) were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria, which once stretched from Northern Italy into southern Gaul. The Ligures inhabited what now corresponds to Liguria, northern Tuscany, Piedmont, part of Lombardy, and parts of southeastern France. Classical references and toponomastics suggests that the Ligurian sphere once extended further into central Italy. It is not known for certain whether they were a pre-Indo-European people akin to Iberians; a separate Indo-European branch with Italic and Celtic affinities; or even a branch of the Celts. Kinship between the Ligures and Lepontii has also been proposed. The Ligures were assimilated by the Romans, and before that by the Gauls, producing a Celto-Ligurian culture.

Ligurian language

:For the Romance language, see Ligurian language (Romance). The Ligurian language was spoken in pre-Roman times and into the Roman era by an ancient people of north-western Italy and south-eastern France known as the Ligures. Very little is known about this language (mainly place names and personal names remain) which is generally believed to have been Indo-European; it appears to have adopted significantly from other Indo-European languages, primarily Celtic (Gaulish) and Italic (Latin). Xavier Delamarre argues that Ligurian was a Celtic language, similar to but not the same as Gaulish. His argument hinges on two points: firstly, the Ligurian place-name Genua (modern Genoa, located near a river mouth) is claimed by Delamarre to derive from PIE
- genu-, "chin(bone)". Many Indo-European languages use 'mouth' to mean the part of a river which meets the sea or a lake, but it is only in Goidelic that PIE
- genu- means 'mouth'. Besides Genua, which is considered Ligurian (Delamarre 2003, p. 177), this is found also in Genava (modern Geneva), which may be Gaulish. However, Genua and Genava may well derive from another PIE root with the form
- genu-, which means "knee" (so in Pokorny, IEW [http://www.ieed.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?flags=eygtnrl&single=1&basename=/data/ie/pokorny&text_recno=571&root=leiden]). Delamarre's second point is Plutarch's mention (Marius 10, 5-6) that during the Battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC, the Ambrones (who may have been a Celtic tribe) began to shout "Ambrones!" as their battle-cry; the Ligurian troops fighting for the Romans, on hearing this cry, found that it was identical to an ancient name in their country which the Ligurians often used when speaking of their descent (outôs kata genos onomazousi Ligues), so they returned the shout, "Ambrones!". Delamarre points out a risk of circular logic - if it is believed that the Ligurians are non-Celtic, and if many place names and tribal names that classical authors state are Ligurian seem to be Celtic, it is incorrect to discard all the Celtic ones when collecting Ligurian words and to use this edited corpus to demonstrate that Ligurian is non-Celtic or non-Indo-European. Strabo on the other hand states "As for the Alps... Many tribes (éthnê) occupy these mountains, all Celtic (Keltikà) except the Ligurians; but while these Ligurians belong to a different people (hetero-ethneis), still they are similar to the Celts in their modes of life (bíois)." The Ligurian-Celtic question is also discussed by Barruol (1999). Herodotus (5.9) wrote that sigunnai meant 'hucksters, peddlers' among the Ligurians who lived above Massilia.

References

- Barruol, G. (1999) Les peuples pré-romains du sud-est de la Gaule - Etude de géographie historique, 2d ed., Paris
- Delamarre, X. (2003). Dictionaire de la Langue Gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-287772-237-6
- Strabo (1917) The Geography of Strabo I. Horace Jones, translator. Loeb Classical Library. London, William Heineman. Category:Ancient languages Category:Indo-European languages Category:Languages of Italy

Geneva

Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (known in French as Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. It is the capital of the Canton of Geneva. The population within the city limits is 185,526 (2004) and that of the city and its suburbs — which extend all the way into France — is 645,000 (2000). Geneva's high international profile today is mainly due to the presence in the city of numerous international organisations, including the European headquarters of the United Nations. See Names of European cities in different languages for a list of the name of this city in other languages.

History

Names of European cities in different languages Geneva was the name of a settlement of the Celtic people of the Allobroges. The name of Genava (or Genua) in Latin appeared for the first time in the writings of Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico, his comments on the Gallic Wars. Its name may be identical in origin to the name of the Ligurian city of Genua (modern Genoa), meaning "knee"; that is, "angle", referring to its geographical position; though more likely is based on the root gen- 'birth' (Genawa is at the birth of the river from the womb of the lake; perhaps the name in full means 'birth-water'). After the Roman conquest it became part of the Provincia Romana (Gallia Narbonensis). In 58 BCE, at Geneva, Caesar hemmed in the Helvetii on their westward march. In the 9th century it became the capital of Burgundy. Though Geneva was contested among Burgundians and Franks and the Holy Roman Emperors, in practice it was ruled by its bishops, until the Reformation, when Geneva became a republic. Due to the work of reformers such as John Calvin, Geneva was sometimes dubbed the Protestant Rome. In the 16th century Geneva was the center of Calvinism; the St Peter's Cathedral in what is now called the Old Town was John Calvin's own church. During the time when England was ruled by Queen Mary I, who persecuted Protestants, a number of Protestant scholars fled to Geneva. Among these scholars was William Whittingham who supervised the translation of the Geneva Bible in collaboration with Miles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and William Cole. One of the most important events in Geneva's history is l'Escalade (literally: "the scaling of the wall"). For the people of Geneva, l'Escalade is the symbol of their independence. It marked the final attempt in a series of assaults mounted throughout the 16th century by Savoy, which wanted to annex Geneva as its capital north of the Alps. This last assault happened on the night of 11-12 December 1602 and is celebrated yearly in the Old Town with numerous demonstrations and a parade of horses, cannons and armed men in period costumes. Geneva, or officially the Canton and Republic of Geneva, became a canton of Switzerland in 1815. The first of the Geneva Conventions was signed in 1864, to protect the sick and wounded in war time.

Geography

1864 at the bottom.]] Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, where the lake flows into the Rhône River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains, the Alps and the Jura. The city of Geneva has an area of 15.86 km², while the area of the Canton of Geneva is 282 km², including the two small enclaves of Céligny in Vaud. The part of the Lake that is attached to Geneva has an area of 38 km² and is sometimes referred to as Petit lac (small lake). The Canton has only a 4.5 km border with the rest of Switzerland; out of a total of 107.5 km of borders, the remaining 103 are shared with France, with the Départment de l'Ain to the North and the Département de la Haute-Savoie to the South. The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 m, and corresponds to the altitude of the largest of the Pierres du Niton, two large rocks emerging from the lake which date from the last ice age. This rock was chosen by General Guillaume Henri Dufour as the reference point for all surveying in Switzerland [http://www.swisstopo.ch/en/basics/geo/faq/horizon]. The second main river of Geneva is the Arve River which flows into the Rhône River just west of the city centre.

Demographics

As of 2004, the population of the Commune (city) of Geneva was 185,526, while 438,500 people lived in the Canton of Geneva. In 2000, 645,000 people lived in the Geneva urban community, which extends into Vaud Canton and neighboring France. The population of the Canton is split between 145,200 people originally from Geneva (33.1%), 123,400 Swiss from other cantons (28.2%) and 169,000 foreigners (38.7%), from 180 different countries. Including people holding dual citizenship, 54.4% of people living in Geneva hold a foreign passport. [http://www.geneve.ch/statistique/statistiques/domaines/domaine.asp?domaine=pop&sousdomaine=pop&vue=apercu] [http://www.swissinfo.org/sfr/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=6160464] While Geneva is usually considered as a Protestant city, there are now more Roman Catholics (39.5%) than Protestants (17.4%) living in the Canton. 22% of the inhabitants indicate that they are not part of any religion, the rest being shared between Islam (4.4%), Judaism (1.1%), other religions and people who did not respond. [http://www.geneve.ch/statistique/statistiques/domaines/domaine.asp?domaine=cult_media&sousdomaine=lang_religion&vue=apercu] (2000 figures.)

International organizations

Judaism Geneva is the seat of many international organisations, including the European headquarters of the United Nations and several other international bodies, such as the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Trade Organization and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Geneva also hosts the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, the International Organization for Standardization, the World Council of Churches, the World Wide Web Virtual Library, the World Economic Forum, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International AIDS Society. Geneva was the seat of the League of Nations between 1919 and the league's dissolution in 1946. It was first housed in the Palais Wilson, and then in the Palais des Nations, which now hosts the United Nations.

Economy

Many multinational companies like Procter & Gamble, Serono, Firmenich and Givaudan have their European headquarters in Geneva.

Infrastructure

Transportation

The city is served by the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. It is connected to both the Swiss railway network SBB-CFF-FFS, and to the French SNCF network, including direct connections to Paris by TGV. Geneva is also connected to the motorway systems of both Switzerland (A1 motorway) and France. Public transport by bus, trolleybus or tram is provided by Transports Publics Genevois (TPG). In addition to an extensive coverage the city centre, the network covers most of the municipalities of the Canton, with a few lines extending into France. Public transport by boat is provided by the Mouettes Genevoises, who link the two banks of the Lake; however, their use is mostly touristic. Regional trains operated by SBB-CFF-FFS connect the main station of Cornavin with the airport's train station, and several smaller train stations outside the city center. Trains are currently not used for transportation inside the city; however, work has started on the CEVA (Cornavin - Eaux-Vives - Annemasse) project, first planned in 1884, which will connect the city's main train station with the Canton's public hospital, the Eaux-Vives station and Annemasse, in France. The link between the main station and the classification yard of La Praille already exists; from there, the line will go mostly underground to the Hospital and the Eaux-Vives, where it will link to the existing line to France. [http://www.ceva.ch/menu/CEVA_accueil]

Utilities

Water, natural gas and electricity are provided to the municipalities of the Canton of Geneva by the state-owned [http://www.sig-ge.ch/ Services Industriels de Genève] (or SIG). Most of the drinkable water (80%) is extracted from the lake; the remaining 20% is provided by groundwater originally formed by infiltration from the Arve River. 30% of the Canton's needs in electricity are locally produced, mainly by three hydroelectric dams on the Rhone River (Seujet, Verbois and Chancy-Pougny). In addition, 13% of the electricity produced in the Canton is made from the heat induced by the burning of waste at the waste incineration facility of [http://www.sig-ge.ch/corporate/entreprise_sig/patrimoine/cheneviers.lbl Les Cheneviers]. The remaining needs (70%) are covered by imports from other cantons in Switzerland or other European countries; SIG buys only electricity produced by renewable methods, and in particular does not use electricity produced using nuclear reactors or fossil fuels. Natural gas is available in the City of Geneva, as well as in about two-thirds of the municipalities of the canton, and is imported from western Europe by the Swiss company [http://www.gaznat.ch/ Gaznat].

Education

Geneva is also home of one of the oldest universities of the world, the University of Geneva, founded in 1559, and one of the most prestigious graduate schools of international relations, the Graduate Institute of International Studies.

Culture

Landmarks and Sights

Graduate Institute of International Studies Notable sights in Geneva include the Flower Clock, the Art and History Museum, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and the Palais des Nations, the European headquarters of the United Nations. The city's most noted landmark is a fountain: the Jet d'Eau (water-jet), situated in Lake Geneva. Its 140-metre-high water column is visible from many parts of the city.

Media

Jet d'Eau The city's main newspaper is the Tribune de Genève, a daily newspaper founded on 1 February 1879 by James T. Bates, with a readership of about 187,000. Le Courrier, founded in 1868, was originally supported by the Roman Catholic Church, but has been completely independent since 1996. Mainly focused on Geneva, Le Courrier is trying to expand into other cantons in Romandy. Both Le Temps (headquartered in Geneva) and Le Matin are widely read in Geneva, but both journals actually cover the whole of Romandy. Geneva is covered by the different French language radio networks of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, in particular the Radio Suisse Romande. While these networks cover the whole of Romandy, special programs related to Geneva are sometimes broadcast on some of the local frequencies in the case of special events such as elections. Other local station broadcast from the city, including [http://www.radiolac.ch/ RadioLac] (FM 91.8 MHz), [http://radiocite.ch Radio Cité] (Christian Radio, FM 92.2 MHz), [http://www.onefm.ch OneFM] (FM 107.0 MHz, also broadcast in Vaud), and World Radio Geneva (FM 88.4 MHz), Switzerland's only English-language radio station. The main television channel covering Geneva is the Télévision Suisse Romande; while its headquarters are located in Geneva, the programs cover the whole of Romandy and are not specific to Geneva. [http://www.lemanbleu.ch Léman Bleu] is a local TV channel, founded in 1996 and distributed by cable.

Sport

The main sport team in Geneva is Servette FC, a football (soccer) club founded in 1890. Servette was the only club to have remained in the top league in Switzerland since its creation in the 1930s; however, in 2005, management problems caused the bankruptcy of the club's parent company, causing the club to be demoted two divisions. Geneva also has an ice hockey club, Genève-Servette HC, which operates in the Swiss Nationalliga A.

External links

- [http://www.ville-ge.ch/index_e.htm Official website of the City of Geneva]
- [http://www.geneva-tourism.ch Geneva Tourism]
- Tribune de Genève: [http://www.tdg.ch/tghome/english_corner/last_news.html Daily news from the city] (English)
- [http://www.geneva.ch/GenevaHistory.htm Brief history of Geneva]
- [http://www.geneva.info/ Geneva information]
- [http://www.tpg.ch Geneva public transport]
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- [http://www.egeneve.ch/ Tales of Geneva life (from 1910 till 2005)] Category:Cantonal capitals of Switzerland ja:ジュネーヴ simple:Geneva

Janus (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings. His most apparent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January. Though he was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions (Janus Geminus (twin Janus) or Bifrons), in some places he was Janus Quadrifrons (the four-faced). The Romans associated Janus with the Etruscan deity Ani. Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, and of one universe to another. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood. Janus was supposed to have come from Thessaly in Greece and shared a kingdom with Camese in Latium. They had many children, including Tiberinus. Janus and his later wife, Juturna, were the parents of Fontus. Another wife was named Jana. Historically, however, he was one of the few Roman gods who had no ready-made Greek counterpart, or analogous mythology. As the sole ruler of Latium, Janus heralded the Golden Age, introducing money, laws and agriculture (making him a culture hero). When Romulus and his men kidnapped the women of the Sabines, Janus caused a hot spring to erupt, causing the would-be attackers to flee. In honor of this, the doors to his temples were kept open during war so that he could easily intervene. The doors and gates were closed during peace. Sabine His two faces (originally, one was always bearded, one clean-shaven; later both bearded) originally represented the sun and the moon. He was usually depicted with a key. One suggested origin of the name of the Italian city of Genoa is a derivation of Janus.

Janus in popular culture

Janus is referred in the 1995 movie adaptation of Judge Dredd. Janus is the name of the project where the DNA of all elder judges have been compounded to yield perfect Judges. However the result yielded is the perfect judge Dredd, and his DNA twin, the perfect criminal, Rico. In the James Bond film GoldenEye, the renegade 00-agent Alec Trevelyn secretly formed the "Janus Syndicate" with himself ("Janus") as its head. This alludes to his betrayal of MI6, as Bond remarks "so you became Janus, the two-faced Roman god come to life." In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode Halloween, Janus was the god Ethan Rayne called on to transform everyone into whatever they were dressed as. In the video game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, the Malkavian character addresses both "twin" sisters as "daughters of Janus". It is later proven that the sisters are in reality the same person, but with two personalities. The Chrono Trigger character Magus's original name as a child was Janus.

External link

- [http://www.livius.org/ja-jn/janus/janus.html Janus] Category:Roman gods Category:Dii Familiaris ja:ヤヌス

Etruscan

Etruscan refers to someone or something from the ancient nation of Etruria, such as:
- Etruscan civilization
- Etruscan language
- Etruscan alphabet
- Etruscan numerals
- Etruscan mythology See also: Tyrrhenian, Lemnian, Pelasgian. Category:Etruscans

209 BC

Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 214 BC 213 BC 212 BC 211 BC 210 BC - 209 BC - 208 BC 207 BC 206 BC 205 BC 204 BC ---- Events
- Second Punic War:
- In a surprise assault, the Romans under Scipio Africanus Major captured Carthago Nova, the most important city in Carthaginian Spain.
- Fabius Maximus captures Tarentum through treachery.
- Hannibal defeats Marcus Claudius Marcellus once again in the indecisive Battle of Asculum.
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