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Ban (title)

Ban was the title of local rulers or officeholders, similar to viceroy, used in several states in Central and Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 20th centuries. The most common examples have been found in medieval Croatia and medieval regions ruled and influenced by the Kingdom of Hungary. They often ruled as the king's governmental representatives, supreme military commanders and judges, and in 18th century Croatia, even as chief government officials. In the Banate of Bosnia they were always de facto supreme rulers.

Historical sources
The first known mention of the title ban is in the 10th century by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, in the work De Administrando Imperio, in the 30th and 31st chapter "Story of the province of Dalmatia" and "Of the Croats and of the country they now dwell in", dedicated to the Croats and the Croatian organisation of their medieval state. In the 30th chapter, describing in Byzantine Greek, how the Croatian state was divided into eleven ζουπανίας (zoupanías; župas), the ban βοάνος (Boános), καὶ ὁ βοάνος αὐτῶν κρατεῖ (rules over) τὴν Κρίβασαν (Krbava), τὴν Λίτζαν (Lika) καὶ (and) τὴν Γουτζησκά (Gacka). In the 31st chapter, describing the military and naval force of Croatia, "Miroslav, who ruled for four years, was killed by the βοέάνου (boéánou) Πριβουνία (Pribounía, i.e. Pribina)", and after that followed a temporary decrease in the military force of the Croatian Kingdom.

In 1029, a Latin charter was published by Jelena, sister of ban Godemir, in Obrovac, for donation to the monastery of St. Krševan in Zadar. In it she is introduced as "Ego Heleniza, soror Godemiri bani...". Franjo Rački noted that if it is not an original, then it is certainly a transcript from the same 11th century.

In the 12th century, the title was mentioned by an anonymous monk of Dioclea and in the Supetar Cartulary. The Byzantine Greek historian John Kinnamos wrote the title in the Greek form μπάνος (mpanos). In the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, which is dated to 12th and 13th century, in the Latin redaction is written as banus, banum, bano, and in the Croatian redaction only as ban. The Supetar Cartulary includes information until the 12th century, but the specific writing about bans is dated to the late 13th and early 14th century, a transcript of an older document. It mentions that there existed seven bans and they were elected by the six of twelve Croatian noble tribes, where the title is written as banus and bani.

Etymology
The Late Proto-Slavic word *banъ is considered to not be of native Slavic lexical stock and is generally argued to be a borrowing from a Turkic language, but such a derivation is highly criticized by the modern historians who rather argue Western European origin. The title's origin among medieval Croats is not completely understood, and it is hard to determine the exact source and to reconstruct the primal form of the Turkic word it is derived from. According to mainstream theory it is generally explained as a derivation from the personal name of the Pannonian Avars ruler, Bayan, which is a derivation of the Proto-Turkic root *bāj- "rich, richness, wealth; prince; husband". The Proto-Turkic root *bāj- is sometimes explained as a native Turkic word; however, it could also be a borrowing from the Iranian bay (from Proto-Iranian *baga- "god; lord"). The title word ban was also derived from the name Bojan, and there were additionally proposed Iranian, and Germanic, language origin.

The Avar nameword bajan, which some scholars trying to explain the title's origin interpreted with alleged meaning of "ruler of the horde", itself is attested as the 6th century personal name of Avar khagan Bayan I which led the raids on provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Some scholars assume that the personal name was a possible misinterpretation of a title, but Bayan already had a title of khagan, and the name, as well its derivation, are well confirmed. The title ban among the Avars has never been attested to in the historical sources, and as such the Avarian etymological derivation is unconvincing.

20th century
The title's etymological and functional origins are unknown. It was used as "evidence" throughout the history of historiography to prove ideological assumptions on Avars, and specific theories on the origin of early medieval Croats. The starting point of the debate was year 1837, and the work of historian and philologist Pavel Jozef Šafárik, whose thesis has influenced generations of scholars. In his work Slovanské starožitnosti (1837), and later Slawische alterthümer (1843) and Geschichte der südslawischen Literatur (1864), was the first to connect the ruler title of ban, obviously not of Slavic lexical stock, which ruled over župas of today's region of Lika, with the Pannonian Avars. He concluded how Avars lived in that same territory, basing his thesis on a literal reading of the statement from Constantine VII's 30th chapter, "there are still descendants of the Avars in Croatia, and are recognized as Avars". However, modern historians and archaeologists until now proved the opposite, that Avars never lived in the area of the Roman province of Dalmatia (including Lika), and that statement occurred somewhere in Pannonia. Šafárik assumed that the Avars by the name word bayan called their governor, and in the end concluded that the title ban derives from the "name-title" Bayan, which is also a Persian title word (see Turkish bey for Persian bag/bay), and neglected that it should derive from the Slavic name Bojan. His thesis would be later endorsed by many historians, and both South Slavic titles ban and župan were asserted as Avars official titles, but it had more to do with the scholar's ideology of the time than actual reality.

Franz Miklosich wrote that the word, of Croatian origin, probably was expanded by the Croats among the Bulgarians and Serbs, while if it is Persian, than among Slavs is borrowed from the Turks. Erich Berneker wrote that became by contraction from bojan, which was borrowed from Mongolian-Turkic bajan ("rich, wealthy"), and noted Bajan is a personal name among Mongols, Avars, Bulgars, Altaic Tatars, and Kirghiz. Đuro Daničić decided for an intermediate solution; by origin is Avar or Persian from bajan (duke).

J. B. Bury derived the title from the name of Avar khagan Bayan I, and Bulgarian khagan Kubrat's son Batbayan, with which tried to prove the Bulgarian-Avar (Turkic) theory on the origin of early medieval Croats. Historian Franjo Rački did not discard the possibility South Slavs could obtain it from Avars, but he disbelieved it had happened in Dalmatia, yet somewhere in Pannonia, and noticed the existence of bân ("dux, custos") in Persian language. Tadija Smičiklas and Vatroslav Jagić thought that the title should not derive from bajan, but from bojan, as thus how it is written in the Greek historical records (boan, boean).

Vjekoslav Klaić pointed out that the title before 12th century is documented only among Croats, and did not consider a problem that Bajan was a personal name and not a title, as seen in the most accepted derivation of Slavic word *korljь (kral/lj, krol). He mentioned both thesis (from Turkic-Persian, and Slavic "bojan, bojarin"), as well the German-Gothic theory derivation from banner and power of ban and King's ban. Gjuro Szabo shared similar Klaić's viewpoint, and emphasized the widespread distribution of a toponym from India to Ireland, and particularly among Slavic lands, and considered it as an impossibility that had derived from a personal name of a poorly known khagan, yet from a prehistoric word Ban or Pan.

Ferdo Šišić considered that is impossible it directly originated from a personal name of an Avar ruler because the title needs a logical continuity. He doubted its existence among Slavic tribes during the great migration, and within early South Slavic principalities. He strongly supported the Šafárik thesis about Avar descendants in Lika, now dismissed by scholars, and concluded that in that territory they had a separate governor whom they called bajan, from which after Avar assimilation, became Croatian title ban. The thesis of alleged Avar governor title Šišić based on his personal derivation of bajan from the title khagan. Nada Klaić advocated the same claims of Avars descendants in Lika, and considered bans and župans as Avar officials and governors.

The latter conclusion by Šišić and Klaić was previously loosely opposed by Rački, who studying old historical records observed that ban could only be someone from one of the twelve Croatian tribes according to Supetar cartulary. This viewpoint is supported by the Chronicle of Duklja; Latin redaction; Unaquaque in provincia banum ordinavit, id est ducem, ex suis consanguineis fratribus ([Svatopluk] in every province allocated a ban, and they were duke's consanguin brothers); Croatian redaction defines that all bans need to be by origin native and noble.

The mainstream view of the time was mainly opposed by Stjepan Krizin Sakač, who emphasized that the word bajan is never mentioned in historical sources as a title, the title ban is never mentioned in such a form, and there's no evidence that Avars and Turks ever used a title closely related to the title ban. Sakač connected the Croatian bân with statements from two Persian dictionaries (released 1893 and 1903); the noun bàn (lord, master, illustrious man, chief), suffix bân (guard), and the Sasanian title merz-bân (مرزبان marz-bān, Marzban). He considered that the early Croats originated from the Iranian-speaking Sarmatians probably Alans and Aorsi. The view of the possible Iranian origin (from ban; keeper, guard), besides Avarian, was shared by the modern scholars like Vladimir Košćak, Horace Lunt and Tibor Živković.

21st century
In the 21st century, historians like Mladen Ančić (2013) and Neven Budak (2018) in their research and synthesis of Croatian history concluded that the Avar linguistic argumentation is unconvincing and the historical sources poorly support such a thesis, emphasizing rather the Frankish origin of the title. Ančić emphasized that Avarian derivation is related to cultural and political ideologization since the 19th century which avoided any association with Germanization and German heritage. According to him, the title and its functions directly derive from a Germanic medieval term ban or bannum, the royal power of raising of armies and the exercise of justice later delegated to the counts, which was widely used in Francia. Archaeologist Vladimir Sokol (2007) independently came to a very similar conclusion relating it to the influence of Franks during their control of Istria and Liburnia. In 2013, historian Tomislav Bali noted the possible connection of the title with the military and territorial administrative unit bandon of the Byzantine Empire. The unit term derives, like the Greek bandon (from the 6th century) and Latin bandus and bandum (from the 9th century; banner), from the Gothic bandwō, a military term used by the troops who had Germanic or fought against Germanic peoples. Bali considered that the Croatian rulers possibly were influenced by the Byzantine model in the organization of the territory and borrowed the terminology and that such thesis can be related to Sokol's arguing of Western influence.

Use of the title
Sources from the earliest periods are scarce, but existing show that since Middle Ages "ban" was the title used for local land administrators in the areas of Balkans where South Slavic population migrated around the 7th century, namely in Duchy of Croatia (8th century–c. 925), Kingdom of Croatia, Croatia in union with Hungary (1102–1526), and many regions ruled and influenced by Kingdom of Hungary like Banate of Bosnia (1154–1377), Banate of Severin (1228–1526), Banate of Macsó (1254–1496) and else. According to Noel Malcolm, usage of the Croatian title "ban" in Bosnia indicates that political ties with the Croatian world was from the earliest times, while supreme leader of the Serbs has always been called the Grand Prince (Veliki Župan) and never the "ban".

The meaning of the title changed with time: the position of a ban can be compared to that of a viceroy or a high vassal such as a hereditary duke, but neither is accurate for all historical bans. In Croatia a ban reigned in the name of the ruler, he is the first state dignitary after King, the King's legal representative, and had various powers and functions.

In South Slavic languages, the territory ruled by a ban was called Banovina (or Banat), often transcribed in English as Banate or Bannate, and also as Banat or Bannat.

Croatia

The earliest mentioned Croatian ban was Pribina in the 10th century, followed by Godemir (969–995), Gvarda or Varda (c. 995–1000), Božeteh (c. 1000–1030), Stjepan Praska (c. 1035–1058), Gojčo (c. 1060–1069), and later Dmitar Zvonimir (c. 1070–1075) and possibly Petar Snačić (c. 1075–1091) who would become the last native Croatian king.

The fairly late mid-10th century mention, because is not mentioned in older inscriptions and royal charters, indicates it was not preserved from the period of Avar Khaganate as was previously presumed in historiography. It rather indicates to the influence of the expansion of the Northern border by King Tomislav of Croatia, after the conquest of Slavonia by the Hungarians, making the position of ban similar to that of a margrave defending a frontier region. That the ban was significant almost as a king is seen in a 1042 charter in which a certain ban "S", most probably Stjepan Praska, founded by himself a monastery of Chrysogoni Jaderæ granting it land, taxation, wealth, cattle, peasants, and that he attained the Byzantine imperial title of protospatharios. This imperial title, somehow related to that of a ban, was given to provincial governors and foreign rulers, and most probably was used to highlight the connection between the Croatian and Byzantine royal court.

After 1102, as Croatia entered personal union with Hungarian kingdom, the title of ban was appointed by the kings. Croatia was governed by the viceroys as a whole between 1102 and 1225, when it was split into two separate banovinas: Slavonia and Croatia, and Dalmatia. Two different bans were appointed until 1476, when the institution of a single ban was resumed. The title of ban persisted in Croatia even after 1527 when the country became part of the Habsburg monarchy, and continued all the way until 1918. In the 18th century, Croatian bans eventually become chief government officials in Croatia. They were at the head of Ban's Government as well Court (Tabula Banalis), effectively the first prime ministers of Croatia.

Bosnia
At the beginning Bosnian status as a de facto independent state fluctuated, depending on era, in terms of its relations with the Kingdom of Hungary and Byzantine Empire. Its rulers were called bans, and their territory banovina. Nevertheless, the Bosnian bans were never viceroys, in the sense as their neighbors in the west in Croatia, appointed by the king.

Earliest mentioned Bosnian bans were Borić (1154–1163) and Kulin (1163–1204). The Bosnian medieval dynasties who used the title Ban from the 12th until the end of 14th century includes Borić, Kulinić with Ban Kulin and Matej Ninoslav being most prominent member, and Kotromanić dynasty.

Some of the most prominent bans from the 12th until the end of 13th centuries includes Ban Borić, Ban Kulin, Ban Stephen Kulinić, Ban Matej Ninoslav, Prijezda I, Prijezda II, Stephen I and Stephen II.

The Bosnian medieval state used the title "ban" until the rulers adopted the use of the title "king" under the Kingdom of Bosnia, with Ban Stephen's II successor Tvrtko I being the first who inaugurate the title "king".

Kingdom of Hungary
Regions ruled and influenced by Kingdom of Hungary, besides those in Croatia and Bosnia, were also formed as banates usually as frontier provinces in today's Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. It includes:

 * Banate of Só (12th century-1410) and Banate of Usora (12/13th century-1324/1463) which rulership was contested by the Banate and Kingdom of Bosnia
 * Banate of Severin (1228–1526) which in the 16th century was divided between Hungary (see Banate of Lugos and Karánsebes) and Wallachia (see Great Banship of Craiova, Banat of Craiova)
 * Banate of Macsó (1254–1284, 1319–1496)
 * Banate of Braničevo, Banate of Kučevo and Banate of Baranja (13th century) contested between Hungarian king, Bulgarians Darman and Kudelin and Serbian Stefan Dragutin
 * Banate of Bulgaria (1365–1369)

As part of the anti-Ottoman defensive system were formed:
 * Banate of Belgrade (1427–1521) in Serbia
 * Banate of Jajce (1463–1527) and Srebrenik (1464–1521/1521) in Bosnia

In 1921 temporarily existed Lajtabánság in Burgenland (Austria).

Bulgaria
The title ban was also awarded in the Second Bulgarian Empire on few occasions, but remained an exception. One example was the 14th-century governor of Sredets (Sofia) Ban Yanuka.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Ban was also used in the 19th century Kingdom of Serbia and Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. Ban was the title of the governor of each province (called banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. The weight of the title was far less than that of a medieval ban's feudal office.

Legacy
The word ban is preserved in many modern toponym and place names, in the regions where bans once ruled, as well as in the personal names.

A region in central Croatia, south of Sisak, is called Banovina or Banija.

The region of Banat in the Pannonian Basin between the Danube and the Tisza rivers, now in Romania, Serbia and Hungary.

In the toponymys Bando, Bandola, Banj dvor and Banj stol and Banovo polje in Lika,

In Bosnia and Herzegovina numerous toponyms exist, such as Banbrdo, village Banova Jaruga, city Banovići, and possibly Banja Luka.

The term ban is still used in the phrase banski dvori ("ban's court") for the buildings that host high government officials. The Banski dvori in Zagreb hosts the Croatian Government, while the Banski dvor in Banja Luka hosted the President of Republika Srpska (a first-tier subdivision of Bosnia and Herzegovina) until 2008. The building known as Bela banovina ("the white banovina") in Novi Sad hosts the parliament and government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia. The building received this name because it previously hosted the administration of Danube Banovina (1929–1941). Banovina is also the colloquial name of the city hall building in Split, and of the administrative building (rectorate and library) of the University of Niš.

In Croatian Littoral banica or banić signified "small silver coins", in Vodice banica signified "unknown, old coins". The Banovac was a coin struck between 1235 and 1384. In the sense of money same is in Romania, Bulgaria (bronze coins), and Old Polish (shilling).

The term is also found in personal surnames: Ban, Banić, Banović, Banovac, Balaban, Balabanić.

Banović Strahinja, a 1981 Yugoslavian adventure film, is based on Strahinja Banović, a fictional hero of Serbian epic poetry.

title: Ban (title)


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Communist Party in Saudi Arabia

The Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (الحزب الشيوعي في السعودية, al-Hizb ash-Shuyu'i fi as-Sa'udiyah) was a political party in Saudi Arabia.

History
The Communist Party in Saudi Arabia (CPSA) was formed on August 31, 1975. It had its origins in the National Renewal Front which was founded on September 23, 1954 and transformed in the National Liberation Front on October 17, 1958. The NLF was part of the Arab National Liberation Front since 1963. The communists inside the NLF had a separate organization called the Organization of Saudi Communists (OSC). The groups were targeted by a wave of arrests between 1968 and 1969. The remainder of the NLF founded the CPSA in 1975. The party membership in 1975 was however very small, and is thought to have numbered as few as 30 members. The first secretary general of the CPSA was Mustafa Wahba, a son of Hafiz Wahba who was one of the advisors of King Abdulaziz. Mustafa Wahba used the alias Mahdi Habib in the post. He held the title until 1991 when the party was dissolved.

Declining popularity caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise in popularity of political Islamism caused the party to rename itself as Democratic Assembly of Saudi Arabia (التجمع الديموقراطي في السعودية) and take up the cause of democratic reform in the early 1990s. Soon thereafter, the government released the political prisoners of the party in exchange that the party promised to disband.

Structure
The CPSA had a youth organization, the Union of Democratic Youth - Saudi Arabia (Ittihad ash-Shabab ad-Dimuqrati fi as-Sa'udiyah), with office in Damascus, Syria. Other organizations close to the CPSA were the Workers' Federation of Saudi Arabia, the National Union of Students of Saudi Arabia (NUSSA) and the Democratic Women's League of Saudi Arabia.

Its central organ was Tareeq al-Kadiḥeen ("Way of the Toilers").

The party was always illegal and persecuted by the regime.

Shiites were attracted to Saudi opposition groups, including the Communist Party, due to resentment at discrimination against them on religious grounds by the Saudi Government. As a result, the bulk of the members of the Communist Party were members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite community.

Ideology
Saudi Communist Party literature was filled with critiques of the Saudi economy, discrimination against women, and of the pro-Western foreign policy of the Saudi ruling family. The Communist Party also criticized the Saudi ruling family as being corrupt.

The CPSA had close relations with other Arab communist parties and was a pro-Soviet party. In its previous inception as the National Liberation Front, the group had pursued closer ties with the National Liberation Front – Bahrain.

As part of the restructuring of the party in the early 1990s, the new Democratic Assembly took up the cause of democratic reform.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Communist Party in Saudi Arabia


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Talk:Georgi Dimitrov

Untitled
For some reason there is a link to the wrong Dimitrov under the "Georgi Dimitrov" link at the Bulgarian composers' list. Is there any way to sort this out? I have noted the note at the end of the article, but I believe it is still confusing this way. I might be able to write something about the composer.

NoMad

 * I added a link to a potential article at List of Bulgarians and here. Everyking 23:22, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Name
The Russians refer to Mr. Dimitrov as "Georgi Mikhailovich Dimitrov", indicating that Mikhail is his father's name. The name presented in the article, "Georgi Dimitrov Mikhailov", appears to indicate that Mikhailov was another surname, though there's still a possibility that Bulgarian customs allow, or recommend, presenting a patronym in such a manner. Can somebody more familiar with Bulgarian customs on personal names explain this further? Digwuren 22:54, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

 * "In Bulgarian, the patronymics are -ov / -ev and -ova / -eva for men and women, respectively. These are identical to the common endings of Bulgarian and some other Slavic family names (such as names in Russian and Czech)". From the patronymic article. -- Asterion talk 20:46, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

RE: Name
If his father's name is Mikhail and his family name is Dimitrov, it should read: Georgi Mikhailov Dimitrov. Unfortunately, this article only mentions his mother's name, not his father's. Nevertheless, in Bulgarian the rule is that your second name is your father's name. For example if you read up the article on Vasil Levski, it says he was born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev, and under the biography section it does mention his father's name Ivan Kunchev; that is, Vasil the son of Ivan, Kunchev.

 * His father's name was Dimitar, so Georgi Dimitrov Mikhailov is the correct Bulgarian name. However, according to official Soviet documents his Russian-language name is Georgiy Mikhaylovich Dimitrov. Charodeev (talk) 19:28, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

Mass Murder
In Bulgaria and Germany he is also known as a Murder of over 2000 Citizens. All "Faschists". (definition by himself) 'In Moscow he signs a decret to kill 2730 Persons by Volksgerichte. http://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2011/02/01/1035048_v_denia_za_pochit_kum_jertvite_na_komunizma_i_nikakvi/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.15.56.113 (talk) 07:23, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

Request for Comments
There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages.

The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person.

Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 03:33, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Currency
Is it worth noting in the article that he was on Bulgarian currency beginning in 1951? He appeared on several denominations of the Bulgarian lev following his death. -=Worloq=- (talk) 05:07, 30 April 2015 (UTC)

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The Persian Encyclopedia

The Persian Encyclopedia (Romanized as Dāyerat-ol-ma'āref-e Fārsi) is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative Encyclopedias written in Persian. It is a two-volume encyclopedia published as three physical volumes.

The encyclopedia was based, in part, on the 1953, 1960, and 1968 editions of The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia. It was initially published under the supervision of Gholamhossein Mosahab, who started the project in 1955 in the Franklin Book Programs office in Tehran. Mosahab left the project after the first volume (words starting with Alef to Seen) was published in 1966.

The second volume was actually published in two "parts", making the encyclopedia three physical volumes. The first part (Sheen to Lām) was published in 1978, ten years after the first volume. It was supervised by Reza Aghsa.

The Iranian revolution in 1979, the death of Mosahab in the same year, and the takeover of the assets of the Franklin office in Tehran by the government delayed further publication.

The second part (Meem to Yeh) was published by Amir Kabir Publishers in 1996, eighteen years after the first part of the volume, but not mentioning a new supervisor's name.

The encyclopedia total is 3385 three-column pages. The encyclopedia contains an introduction that explains in detail the principles and methods of work and how to use the encyclopedia.

This encyclopedia has 43,000 entries, of which 23,000 are foreign entries, 11,000 are related to Iran and Islam, and the rest are reference entries. Foreign entries are generally translations and adaptations, but entries related to Iran are entirely authored.

The three volumes were republished with minor changes by Amir Kabir Publishers in 2002 (ISBN 964-303-044-X).

title: The Persian Encyclopedia


text: Category:Soviet Navy

title: Category:Soviet Navy


text:
Mets de Guaynabo (basketball)

Mets de Guaynabo are a Puerto Rican professional basketball team based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The Mets compete in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) as a member of the league's B Division. Founded in 1935 as the original Cangrejeros of Santurce franchise, the team relocated to Guaynabo in 1976 and became the Guaynabo Mets. The Mets play their home games at Mario Morales Coliseum, named after Mario "Quijote" Morales, who led the team to its three championships during the 1980s. The Mets also reached the BSN finals in 1991 and 1993, losing both times to the Leones of Ponce.The team dissolved in 2015, but was reinstated with new ownership in 2019.

The 2020 season ended with a 2–1 series loss in the semifinals to the Vaqueros of Bayamón for the new Mets franchise.

The Mets followed up the semifinal appearance in 2020 with a surprise trip to the finals in the 2021 season, where they eventually lost to the Capitanes of Arecibo.

The 2022 season ended with the Mets missing the playoffs for the first time since returning to the BSN.

In 2023, the Mets made the playoffs and were considered one of the best teams in the league, but eventually lost to the Gigantes of Carolina (4-3), who managed to beat the Mets after going down 3–2.

Early history
The Mets were coached by legendary National Team and Olympic Coach Julio Toro and were a force in Puerto Rican basketball during the 1980s. With such players as Fico Lopez, Mario Morales, José Sosa, Earl Brown, Jose Santos, Gustavo Santos, Papiro Leon, Papote Agosto and many more, the Mets won championships in 1980, 1982 and 1989, while reaching the finals in 1981, 1983, and 1985. They reached the playoffs every year during that decade.

The Mets were able to acquire Jose and Gustavo Santos from the Rio Piedras Cardinals whom they had defeated the previous year in the Superior Basketball league semi finals. 5 players for two arguably the largest trade in PR basketball history. The Mets were reborn with the Santos trade and looked to their minor league for future stars Papiro Leon, Fico Lopez, Papote Agosto. So dominant and young was this team, that a dynasty was born, the Mets reached the finals in 4 consecutive years winning two championships. All of their players were below the age of 25, with teenagers shoring up the bench. The Puerto Rican Basketball Federation had to break up this team by introducing a draft and new rule that a team can only protect "6" players thus breaking up the powerful Mets. Lopez and Morales, who were also brothers in law as Morales married Lopez's sister, famous volleyball player Eva Lopez, formed a formidable duo on the court, with Lopez playing point guard and Morales forward. They became Puerto Rican basketball legends.

Even though the team was not active in the league from 2015 to 2019, many other sports teams in Guaynabo, from baseball to volleyball, have assumed the Mets name.

Return as an expansion team
On November 22, 2019, league officials announced the first expansion team since 1993 would be established in the San Juan area. Owners Marc Grossman and Mark Linder initially eyed Roberto Clemente Coliseum as the home court for their new team, but San Juan's Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz expressed concerns the team wouldn't be able to play a full season at the venue due to previously scheduled events. Grossman and Linder then decided to revive the Mets de Guaynabo, five years after the original team left Guaynabo.

The team reintroduced themselves on December 17, 2019, in a press conference with Grossman, former Puerto Rico national basketball team general manager Alfredo “Piraña” Morales, Guaynabo Mayor Angel Perez Otero, and BSN President Ricardo Dalmau. During the press conference, team officials revealed the new team, the league's tenth, signed its first free agent, Angel Alamo. Alamo was a 34-year-old forward who had played previously for the Mets in 2012 and 2013. The team also selected four players in an expansion draft on November 22, 2019, and received the 11th pick in the January 15, 2020 draft.

Grossman and Linder hired Puerto Rico national basketball team general manager Alfredo “Piraña” Morales to be the Mets' general manager. Prior to the 2020 season, Grossman pursued former NBA All Star Metta World Peace to be the Mets' head coach. The team was also considering former NBA All Star Charles Oakley, Paco Olmos, Allans Colón, and Carlos Calcaño. In December 2019, World Peace held tryouts for the team in Los Angeles, but was not officially named coach.

Isaiah Austin, a former Baylor University basketball star who played professionally for teams in China and Lebanon since 2017, signed with the Mets in December 2019 as one of their three import players allowed as an expansion team.

Notable players

 * 🇺🇸 Zach Hankins (born 1996) (2022)
 * 🇺🇸 Tu Holloway (born 1989) (2015)
 * 🇺🇸 Ben Moore (born 1995) (2022)
 * 🇺🇸 DeMarcus Cousins (born 1990) (2023)
 * 🇦🇺 Mitch Creek (born 1992) (2022–2023)

title: Mets de Guaynabo (basketball)


text: Category:Military of the Soviet Union

title: Category:Military of the Soviet Union


text:
Roots Manuva

Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial success with albums Run Come Save Me and Slime & Reason. He has been described as "one of the most influential artists in British music history." His most recent studio album, Bleeds, was released in October 2015.

Biography
Smith grew up around Stockwell, London, England. His parents were from a small village in Jamaica where his father was a preacher and tailor. He spent much of his early life in poverty and this and his strict Pentecostal upbringing had an influence on his music as can be heard in many of his tracks such as "Sinny Sin Sins" and "Colossal Insight".

Of his early discovery of music he says: "It was as a kid. Before I even knew what a sound system was. I was walking past Stockwell skateboard park and there was this sound being set up. They were probably just trying out their speakers. I was with my mum, holding my mum's hand. And I remember my mum being quite intimidated by the whole affair. Such a barrage of bass coming from it! And these dodgy-looking blokes standing beside it just admiring the sound of their bass. It's just a bass thing. A volume thing. I don't know if I rose-tint the memories, but I remember it sounded so good, so rich. It's not like today when we go to clubs and it hurts. It was more of a life-giving bass."

Smith made his recorded debut in 1994 as part of IQ Procedure through Suburban Base's short-lived hip hop imprint Bluntly Speaking Vinyl. He debuted as Roots Manuva the same year on Blak Twang's "Queen's Head" single, before releasing his own single, "Next Type of Motion" the following year through the same label, the Sound of Money. 1996 saw the release of his collaborations with Skitz ("Where My Mind Is At"/"Blessed Be The Manner") on 23 Skidoo's Ronin label. The release of "Feva" on Tony Vegas' Wayward imprint followed in 1997. This was also the year that saw the first releases from Big Dada, a collaboration between Coldcut's Ninja Tune label and hip hop journalist Will Ashon.

Releasing for Coldcut's renowned experimental/hip hop label Ninja Tune in 1998, some of his music may be seen as a predecessor of grime. The following year he released his debut album, Brand New Second Hand. A reference to his family's modest lifestyle, the title is a phrase his mother used for presents he got as a youngster that were pre-used. The single "Witness (1 Hope)", from his second album Run Come Save Me, with its lyrical flow and heavy shuffling squelch bass (allegedly a result of Smith trying to copy the Doctor Who theme) is a UK rap anthem. He had such an impact on the UK rap scene that The Times said that "his is the voice of urban Britain, encompassing dub, ragga, funk and hip hop as it sweeps from crumbling street corners to ganja-filled dancehalls, setting gritty narratives against all manner of warped beats." Manuva was rewarded for his breakthrough with a MOBO as Best Hip Hop Act that year.

The lyrics of his songs have a British edge, with critics highlighting his references to eating cheese on toast and drinking bitter as examples of this. He can be heard on many songs performed with other artists such as Chali 2na (and Ozomatli), Jamie Cullum, DJ Shadow, Mr Scruff, U.N.K.L.E., Fun Lovin' Criminals, Nightmares on Wax, The Cinematic Orchestra, Beth Orton, The Herbaliser, Leftfield, Saian Supa Crew and Coldcut. He also made an appearance on the Gorillaz album Demon Days, on the track "All Alone", and Jungle track You ain't no Celebrity in 2023.

Hiatus
In 2018, Manuva was hospitalised for six months due to suffering from a subdural hematoma. The brain injury left him with memory loss and reduced mobility in his left leg.

EPs

 * Next Type of Motion (1995)
 * Awfully De/EP (24 October 2005)
 * Banana Skank EP (21 January 2013)
 * "Stolen Youth EP" (6 August 2013)

Live albums

 * Live from London (iTunes) (15 August 2008)

Singles

 * "Juggle Tings Proper" (22 February 1999)
 * "Motion 5000" (5 July 1999)
 * "Witness (1 Hope)" (23 July 2001) UK No. 45
 * "Dreamy Days" (8 October 2001) UK No. 53
 * "Yellow Submarine" (14 October 2002)
 * "Colossal Insight" (17 January 2005) UK No. 33
 * "Too Cold" (21 March 2005) UK No. 39
 * "Buff Nuff" (30 June 2008)
 * "Again & Again" (25 August 2008) – featured on the EA TRAX soundtrack for the EA Sports videogame Fight Night Round 4
 * "Let the Spirit" (27 October 2008)
 * "Do Nah Bodda Mi" (29 June 2009)
 * "It's On (Banana Klan)" (28 April 2011)
 * "Here We Go Again (feat. Spikey Tee)" (3 October 2011)
 * "Don't Breathe Out" (22 September 2015)

Guest appearances

 * Amon Tobin – "Saboteur mix," also known as "Saboteur -- Roots Manuva version" (from Ninja Tune compilation Xen Cuts)
 * Antipop Consortium - "NY to Tokyo" (from Fluorescent Black)
 * Audio Bullys – "Made Like That" (feat. Roots Manuva & Mr Fox) (from Generation)
 * Blak Twang – "Queen's Head" (from Dettwork S.E. promo); "Shhhoosh" (from 19 Long Time)
 * Breakage – "Run 'Em Out"
 * The Cinematic Orchestra – "All Things to All Men" (from Every Day); "A Caged Bird / Imitations of Life" (from To Believe)
 * Cornish Waters – "Look to Myself for Faith" (from UK Hustlerz – The Return, under the pseudonym Brigadier Smythe)
 * Coldcut – "True Skool" (from Sound Mirrors) UK No. 61, "Only Heaven" (from Only Heaven EP)
 * DJ Mentat – "Rugged Wid' It" (with Seanie T)
 * DJ Shadow – "GDMFSOB (UNKLE Uncensored mix)" (from "Mashin' on the Motorway")
 * DJ Skitz – "Inner City Folk" and "Fingerprints of the Gods" (from Countryman)
 * Dobie – "Connectivity" (from The Sound of One Hand Clapping)
 * Freq Nasty – "Boomba Clatt" (from Bring Me the Head of Freq Nasty)
 * Fun Lovin' Criminals – "Keep on Yellin'" (from Classic Fantastic)
 * Gorillaz – "All Alone" (from Demon Days alongside Martina Topley-Bird)
 * The Herbaliser – "Lord Lord" (from Take London); "Starlight" (from Very Mercenary)
 * INORAN – "Rat Race" (from Sou)
 * Jamie Cullum – "Love for $ale" (from "Momentum")
 * Jungle – "You Ain't No Celebrity" (from "Volcano")
 * King Kooba – "Barefoot" (from Indian Summer)
 * Killa Kela – "Here Comes The Submarines feat. Roots Manuva" (from Elocution)
 * Leftfield – "Dusted" (from Rhythm and Stealth) UK No. 28
 * Lotek HiFi – "Move Ya Ting" (from Mixed Blessings)
 * The Maccabees – "Empty Vessels"
 * Massive Attack - "Dead Editors" (from Ritual Spirit EP)
 * Morcheeba – "Blaze Away" (from Blaze Away)
 * Mr. Scruff – "Jus Jus" (from Keep It Unreal), "Nice Up The Function" (from Ninja Tuna)
 * N'fa – "My Style" (from ''Cause An Effect)
 * New Flesh for Old – "Norbert & Cecil" (from Understanding, under the pseudonym Cecil P.Y.L.M. Pim Pimpernel)
 * Reachout – "For Whom the Heart Beats" (from The Bristo Sq. EP)
 * Ty – "Oh U Want More?" (from Upwards) UK No. 65 (also "So U Want Morre [sic]? (refix)" on Upwards new edition)
 * Saian Supa Crew – "Hey Yo My Man"
 * Speech Debelle - "Blaze Up a Fire" (from Freedom of Speech)
 * Colossus – "Thrupenny Bits" (from "West Oaktown") (OmRecords 2002 – pseudonym Hylton Smythe)
 * Nightmares on Wax – "70s 80s (Up Bringing Mix) (feat. Roots Manuva, LSK, Rodney P and Tozz 180)" (from "70s 80s" single)
 * The Herbaliser – "Something Wicked (Roots Manuva's Haunted House Dub)" (limited free release from Ninja Tune website to celebrate forthcoming Ninja Tune boxset).
 * DELS – "Capsize" (from GOB – 2011)

Other

 * Badmeaningood Vol.2 (7 October 2002) (19 tracks selected by Rodney Smith for the Badmeaningood series.)
 * Back to Mine: Roots Manuva (24 October 2005) (18 tracks selected by Smith for the Back to Mine series.)
 * The Blacknificent 7 – Riding Thru Da Undaground! (collaboration with Seanie T, Rodney P, Skeme, Est'elle, Karl Hinds, Jeff3)
 * Black Whole Styles – "Uranium 235" (with Drunken Imoortals & New Flesh) & "Feel Da Panic"
 * Extra Yard: The Bouncement Revolution – "Dreamy Days(Loteck Productions) featuring Ricky Rankin, "Born Again" featuring Wildflower, "Witness The Swords" featuring Fallacy, Rodney P, Blackitude, Big P & Skeme, "Bashment Boogie"
 * Sound01: A Big Dada Sampler – "Skiver's Guide" featuring Black Twang & Gamma

Trivia

 * "Witness (1 Hope)" appeared in the 8th episode of season 2 of Ted Lasso, as psychologist Sharon was biking to her office.
 * "Witness (1 Hope)" was played in the UK game show Total Wipeout international special episode.
 * "Witness" (1 Hope) was also featured in the 2006 film Children of Men.
 * "Awfully Deep" was used as a background track in series 2 of TFI Friday.
 * "Witness (1 Hope)" was used as part of the soundtrack for Big Up Production's video of Chris Sharma's ascent of the bouldering problem called "Witness the Fitness" (V15).
 * Roots Manoeuvred is the name of an East London based Arborist, but there is no indication that Roots Manuva is involved in the company.

title: Roots Manuva


text:
Wicked

Wicked may refer to:

Books

 * Wicked (comics), a minor character in the X-Men universe
 * Wicked (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name
 * Wicked (Pretty Little Liars), the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series
 * Wicked (novel series), a young adult novel series written by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
 * Wicked, a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman

Film, television and stage

 * Wicked (musical), a 2003 musical based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel
 * Wicked (2024 film), the first of the two-part film adaptation of the musical, directed by Jon M. Chu
 * Wicked Part Two, the second part of the two-part film adaptation of the musical
 * Wicked (1931 film), a musical film starring Bailey Morley and Victor McLaglen
 * The Wicked (1991 film), Italian film directed by Carlo Lizzani
 * Wicked (1998 film), a 1998 film starring Julia Stiles
 * Wicked! (TV series), a 2000 Australian animated series
 * "The Wicked" (The Amazing World of Gumball), a television episode
 * The Wicked (2013 film), American film directed by Peter Winther
 * Wicked, Wicked, a 1973 horror-thriller feature film that was presented in "Duo-Vision"
 * Wicked Pictures, an American pornographic studio

Albums

 * Wicked (musical album), songs from the musical
 * Wicked! (Scooter album), a 1996 album by Scooter
 * Wicked (Shemekia Copeland album), a 2000 album by Shemekia Copeland
 * Wicked (Sinitta album), a 1989 studio album by American singer Sinitta
 * Wicked (Barb Jungr and Michael Parker album), a 1986 album by Barb Jungr and Michael Parker
 * W.I.C.K.E.D., a 2009 album by rap duo Twiztid

Songs

 * "Wicked" (Ice Cube song), a 1992 song by rap artist Ice Cube
 * "Wicked" (Future song), a 2016 song by Future
 * "Wicked", a song on Greg Dulli's 2005 album Amber Headlights
 * "Wicked", a song by Symphony X from The Odyssey
 * "W.I.C.K.E.D.", a 2009 song from the eponymous album W.I.C.K.E.D.

Other uses

 * Wicked (roller coaster), a launched steel roller coaster located at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Utah
 * Wicked (video game), developed by Binary Vision Ltd. and released on Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64 in 1989
 * WICKED, a fictional organization in the novel and film series The Maze Runner

title: Wicked


text:
Bascule bridge

A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or double-leafed.

The name comes from the French term for balance scale, which employs the same principle. Bascule bridges are the most common type of movable span because they open quickly and require relatively little energy to operate, while providing the possibility for unlimited vertical clearance for marine traffic.

History
Bascule bridges have been in use since ancient times, but until the adoption of steam power in the 1850s, very long, heavy spans could not be moved quickly enough for practical application.

Types

There are three types of bascule bridge and the counterweights to the span may be located above or below the bridge deck.

The fixed-trunnion (sometimes a "Chicago" bascule) rotates around a large axle that raises the span(s). The Chicago bascule name derives from the location where it is widely used, and is a refinement by Joseph Strauss of the fixed-trunnion.

The rolling lift trunnion (sometimes a "Scherzer" rolling lift), raises the span by rolling on a track resembling a rocking-chair base. The "Scherzer" rolling lift is a refinement patented in 1893 by American engineer William Donald Scherzer.

The rarer Rall type combines rolling lift with longitudinal motion on trunnions when opening. It was patented (1901) by Theodor Rall. One of the few surviving examples is the Broadway Bridge (1913), in Portland, Oregon.

title: Bascule bridge


text:
Talk:List of country names in various languages

First (untitled heading)
Question: you mention political changes--are you intending to include these in this list as well? Such as Rhodesia, Holland...? Quill 23:09, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC) hii my name is renuka and i like to introduce me

Unreadability
"Serial commas, serial commas, parenthesizing, commas, commas". This is among the hardest-to-read list/table in WP. --Menchi 00:29, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * I beg to disagree. I find it eminently readable.

Pasquale 18:36, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * @Pasquale: "Works for me, won't fix?" How about, machine readability? This is terrible. What should I do, write a parser specifically for this job, just to convert this set of tables back into a proper, structured, machine-readable form? And then keep my fingers crossed that nobody decides to change the format (even slightly), in the future?

Third (untitled heading)
I would have liked to add Etats-Unis (United States), but the box formatting is too complicated. I could not get it to work right. Could this article be done with no boxes. AlainV 05:23, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * It's fairly easy. Just copy and paste one of the existing boxes, and then replace the names of the countries and names of the languages. You can cut the rest and - you're there. IMO there's no other way of learning how the tables work (at least that's how I learned). Halibutt 10:23, Jul 8, 2004 (UTC)

what is the criteria for listing alternative names? There are so many languages that each entry would become unmanageable. --Jiang 20:49, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * This is a good question. However, so far I see no problem with it. We might want to find a list of languages that need to be included, but so far the lists are relatively short and quite easily manageable. Halibutt 09:34, Jul 9, 2004 (UTC)

If the intent is to translate it into as many languages as possible, then I can create a problem, first by copying China in world languages into this page. Why don't we just stick with primary/defacto/official languages? Anything else non-English is irrelevant here. --Jiang 16:23, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Without further input, I will be converting this into what I have proposed. The rest belongs in wiktionary, not wikipedia. --Jiang 06:40, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Converting into... what? You did not propose anything, you simply stated that the number of languages should be limited - but to which ones? Halibutt 07:00, Jul 13, 2004 (UTC)

The languages should be limited primary/defacto/official languages for each country. In addition, variants (official or otherwise) should be listed after the common name. Eg, "America" and "United States of America" would be both listed after "United States". How "United States" is spelled in Greek should not be listed here. --Jiang 07:29, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Reason for article
The page was created to avoid expanding List of European cities with alternative names to include country names. It does not really have a point if only English is to be used. If length is a problem, just link to separate pages for countries such as China, and possibly split the article into one per continent, each of those articles having a different version for European languages, Asian, etc.

It's entirely permissable to have foreign languages in an English encyclopaedia for the sake of reference, it's only if actual content was written in another language that there would be a problem. There seems to be a growing contingent of "English purists" on Wikipedia - it's a really quite unnecessary crusade. Zoney 18:53, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I did not say that only English should be used. I said that only relevant languages should be used. For Canada, its English, French, and possibly Iniut. For the US it's English, and possibly Spanish. What is the relevance of how China is referred to in Greece? If the intent is the translate every country into every language possible, then why not start with separate articles built on the mold of China in world languages? Otherwise, a reference guide without explanation of who uses whatever "alternative country names" belongs in a translation book, not an encyclopedia. The closest thing we have would be wiktionary. --Jiang 00:13, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I somewhat agree with that analysis - for example, European countries only having European languages. I mean, for the UK/Britain it does make sense to have the local languages (English, Irish, Welsh, Cornish) as well as neighbours (Scandinavia, Germany, Dutch, French, Breton, etc.) The boundaries are however, somewhat difficult to draw. An exclusively European countries/languages article would be something I, as a European, would heartily approve of. Zoney 11:30, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * How about splitting the article onto two different lists?

 * List of alternative country names with French, English and Inuit for Canada and so on
 * List of country names or List of country names in various languages for the current version of the article?
 * The way it is now it's much more informative for me. Especially that all alternative names in official languages are usually listed on top of the country tables. Halibutt 11:55, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Splitting it would be an improvement, IMO. We should keep it to one line per country for the former (e.g. "America" and "United States of America" listed on the same line under "United States" and "Dominion of Canada" listed after "Canada"). That is, this listing is not just about translations, but actual alternatuve country names in the same language. For the first column, we go by the location of the wikipedia article. --Jiang 19:41, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I've implemented the split. These articles need to be interlinked elsewhere, like at list of countries. --Jiang 22:43, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I come late to this "discussion" which, in addition to Jiang, has featured only two other people: Halibutt, the creator of the page, and Zoney, one of its major contributors. I respect the opinions expressed, but I have to say that IMO Jiang failed to understand the value and purpose of the article. He says: What is the relevance of how China is referred to in Greece? That is precisely the point of this article. It is of very great interest, for example, that Germany is called "Vokietija" in Lithuanian or that the old Polish name of Austria is "Rakusza", etc. etc. On the contrary, it is what Jiang wants to do (and has done by highjacking this page) that is of little interest and does not particularly require a list. Who needs a list that says "America" = "USA", "Great Britain" = "UK", and so on and so forth? That kind of information is best treated as part of individual articles, or by redirecting one entry to another. But Jiang tells me that a decision (i.e. his) has been arrived at by consensus and he simply implemented it. Fine, that means we'll continue working on the List of country names in various languages, as the joint effort has now been renamed by Jiang, and he can have his list of doublets, now that he's highjacked the List of alternative country names. He wants to list Canada's name in both of its official languages, i.e. "Canada" = "Canada". Very useful!

Pasquale 23:33, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Σκόπια / Σκοπία
N.B. Σκόπια (Skópia) is the city, Σκοπία (Skopía) is the country. -- Picapica 10:37, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Cyrillic transliteration
I changed Cyrillic transliteration to ISO-9:1995 standard. I hope this makes text look more uniform.--Kulkuri 16:18, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * More uniform, yes, but not easy to read. Most people don't use the ISO-9:1995 standard transliteration; I for one find it very ugly.  Why don't we use Wikipedia's own transliteration of Russian into English and for Ukrainian the Ukrainian National System described at Romanization of Ukrainian?  Or the "scholarly" system generally used by Slavicists? Or alternatively use the BGN/PCGN 1947 system, since we *are* dealing with geographic names here?  I would vote for the "scholarly" system since it's fairly unambiguous and it makes Cyrillic-using Slavic languages jibe tolerably well with Latin-using Slavic languages. --Angr 22:38, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I changed my mind. I think the BGN/PCGN system is best (not only for Cyrillic but for Greek as well) since it's most familiar to English speakers and probably the easiest for them to read.  I'm going to start converting the Russian and Ukrainian names to BGN/PCGN and hope no one objects and reverts all my changes. I'm not going to do the Belarusian ones since there seems to be some doubt as to their accuracy (see comment below). --Angr 16:02, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

True or false??
True or false: the rows for "United States" and "United States of America" should be merged into a single row. 66.245.18.193 15:06, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree. IMHO also "United Kingdom", "Great Birtain" and "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" should be merged.--Kulkuri 15:15, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * I totally disagree. What you want to do has alrerady been done in List of alternative country names. There you will find a list of cases such as "United Kingdom" vs. "Great Britain" and so on and so forth, so please refer to that article. As far as THIS article is concerned, I recommend leaving things as they are. Consider first of all that "United Kingdom" and "Great Britain" are not the same thing. "United Kingdom" also includes "Northern Ireland" which, by the way, is also listed. Furthermore, this article includes "United Kingdom" and "United States" as separate entries (distinct from "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and "United States of America") precisely because in many languages these particular short forms are used with great frequency.

Pasquale 15:34, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * What I tried to say that this is list of country names, nothing else. I know very well that UK and Great Britain are not same thing and I have nothing against listing relevant information for these ones too, but anyway they belong to lists like List of European regions with alternative names or List of alternative country names. Same thing should be with Wales, Scotland, England, Faroe Island and other subnational entities that are not sovereign countries. This is just to clarify things. There is no need to have same kind of edit wars as with List of country name etymologies where people started to list Canadian territories and Swiss cantons as "countries". To avoid this kind of mess, we should make clear definitions and simpliest way is to limit this list for Sovereign countries only, not to any subnational entities, no matter how autonomous or "close to indpendence" they are.--Kulkuri 21:37, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * I am sorry, Marko, but again I have to disagree. The concept of country is not at all as rigid as you seem to imply. Just look at the countries that are competing at the Athens Olympics right now! Are Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, and several other IOC member countries not in fact subnational entities? To me, Wales, Scotland, England are countries. They even have their international soccer teams. What more can a country aspire to??? If I were you, I would not get so hung up about sovereignty. Why should it bother you if the Faroe Islands are listed both here and in the List of European regions with alternative names? Monaco is listed both here and in the List of European cities with alternative names. Is that a problem? I don't think so. (Luxembourg too!)

Pasquale 18:00, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * I know that concept of country is not that simple. I am also very well aware that IOC members are not all fully sovereign countries. So what? We are not participating in olympic champions now, but listing encyclopedic information. To keep things straight we need anyway clear (or at least somekind of) definitions, and I was trying to make one. And as you said... Wales, Scotland, England are countries. They even have their international soccer teams. What more can a country aspire to??? ...I would say a lot more than that. As I told you I have nothing against listing different entities, and reason why I am hanging up about sovereignity is that it is by far the simpliest definition. After all I really don ' t care if somebody wants to list names for subdivisions of UK, or even Canadian territories and Swiss cantons here, but why do we need that. Easiest and most rational way would be to limit this list to List of countries and list others subnational entities elsewhere. Do you really disagree with that? What it comes to duplicate information it is also much easier to edit when you don ' t need to worry about updates for several pages. What it comes to Monaco and Luxembourg, they can refer to both; country and city (and Luxembourg even to Belgian province).--Kulkuri 08:56, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Marko, I think the problem is that we have a completely different idea of what this "List of country names in various languages" ought to be. To you and possibly others, such as maybe Avala, it seems to be an ideally exhaustive list of the world countries (say, UN members, or entities listed in the List of countries, or whatever) with their names in as many foreign languages as possible. (I began to suspect as much when I saw you entering names such as "Comoros", "Djibouti", etc., that I would not have listed.) To me, and, I believe, to the people who started this list (e.g. Halibutt, Zoney, and others), it is not that at all.

 * It is rather a small dictionary of country names with interesting variations in other languages. That is why, personally, I see nothing wrong with listing "Great Britain", "United Kingdom", and "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", even if they refer to the same political entity. They are there because they provide information, namely an answer to the questions: "How do you say Great Britain in language X?", "How do you say United Kingdom in language X?", etc. That is what a dictionary does. A dictionary lists words that are synonyms, right? It is immaterial that the terms in question refer to the same entity.

 * To a linguist such as myself, it is of great interest that the name for Germany has so many different roots in different European languages (the "Allemagne"-type names, the "Deutschland"-type names, the "Germania"-type names, the "Německo"-type names, the "Saksa"-type names, and the baffling "Vokietija" and "Vācija" in Lithuanian and Latvian respectively). That prompts me to want to investigate the historical origins of these strikingly different forms. On the other hand, listing "Antigua and Barbuda" in a bunch of languages, when only the word "and" is going to be translated, is not of great interest, in my opinion.

 * As far as "England, "Scotland", and "Wales" are concerned (and other such cases), you simply cannot list them under regions and territories. There is a widespread understanding, within the United Kingdom and elsewhere, that these are country names. The English, the Scottish, and the Welsh consider them country names, and so do most outsiders. What I said about the soccer teams was half in jest, but still FIFA accepts them as national teams precisely because those entities are universally seen as countries. FIFA would certainly not allow Algarve, Burgenland, Calabria, etc., to play as national teams.

 * I am truly sorry that you fail to understand the above very simple arguments. And I fail to see why it is so important to you to place the restrictions you want to place. If the list title referred to a body with member countries such as the United Nations, then, of course, you would be entitled to demand that the list only include that body's members. But, given the current loose definition, this list need not be policed the way you want to police it. Also, it need not list all of the world's countries. What is the point of listing "Benin" if "Benin" is "Benin" in all foreign languages? (Indeed, no one has added "Benin" yet. But, who knows, maybe you will soon?)

 * Pasquale 15:19, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Zielony Przylądek or Republika Zielonego Przylądka
There was mistake in article pl:Afryka (I fixed it). There is stub article about mentioned country (I didn't write it) pl:Republika Zielonego Przyl&. To find cap named Cabo Verde see: Cap-Vert, Geography of Africa. In polish there are three different names: I'm shure what im doing. I'm Polish native speaker. Sorry if I made mistakes in english. radomil 16:33, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Zielony Przylądek - cap in Senegal (Cap-Vert)
 * Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka - archipelago near west coast of Africa
 * Republika Zielonego Przylądka - country on those islands (Cabo Verde)

There is nothing specific to Polish about the above distinctions. Exactly the same would be true for every single other language, so technically "Republic of" should be added to all. Right now, Polish stands out as the only language that underscores the above distinction. But so be it, if it makes you happy. (No one is doubting your competence as a Polish native speaker, but that's not the issue. The issue is rather if "Republic of" should be added to ALL languages or not.)

Pasquale 18:36, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Mayby but, in english You use french name for cap and portugal for country. In polish it is so important like in English: "Washington" -in this form You don't know if it's state or city. Moreover, in Polish "Zielony Przylądek" is name RESERVED for cap. That's why it is so important. Mayby about other languages should speak their native users? radomil 18:51, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The difference is that we don't have an exact equivalent of Cabo Verde in Polish. It's either the Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka (archipelago) or Republika Zielonego Przylądka (state). Perhaps the earlier would be a better choice here..? [[User:Halibutt|Halibutt]] 19:04, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

Your right. We don't have en exact equivalent. That's why for the country only good name is a full name with - "Republika". On all Polish maps You have name "Republika Zielonego Przylądka", isn't it? radomil 19:14, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I think Halibutt is right. Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka is more appropriate here than Republika Zielonego Przylądka. If we start adding "Republic" here, then we should have it for every republic. Shall we have Rzeczpospolita Polska as the Polish name for the country of Poland? I don't think so. Shall we have République Française as the French name for the country of France? I don't think so. Pasquale 20:40, 2 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Well, I'm sure I saw a map with Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka where the state name should be, but that might've been a simple mistake. However, due to consistency reasons we might simply change that to Wyspy.. since most other Slavic names use the islands rather than the republic (see Serbian, Slovene or Croat name). Anyway, this is a typical wiki naming problem rather than a conflict and no exclamation marks are needed. Cheers! [[User:Halibutt|Halibutt]] 20:51, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

I wont't argue. Of course there are maps with name Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka like there are maps with Cejlon (Ceylon) because these are names of geographical structures. States are named Republika Zielonego Przylądka and Sri Lanka. Because poeple usualy don't see the diffrences you can change Republika on Wyspy. Shortly: Republika - if You want to be purist, Wyspy - if not, but never simply Zielony Przylądek - because on in Polish it is a place in Senegal.

Of course in Poland we use names Francja and Polska but there's no such name for Cabo Verde. Do You see a difference now? radomil 04:58, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Wyspy should be used (rather than Republika) in order to differentiate the island nation from the cape in Senegal (Cap-Vert). However, Radomil should realize that in several other languages the same name is used for both the place in Senegal and the archipelago country, without any confusion arising from that. (English is exceptional in preferring the French term for the cape.) I will go ahead and implement the change.

Pasquale 16:18, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

OK, thats acceptable version. Perhaps (if You say so) in others languages there is no difference between archipelago country and cap in Senegal (that one, which You said that don't exist). If You say that English is exeption why You can't accept that Polish is also. In Wikipedia should be TRUE information, not information that is convergent with your opinions. radomil 16:52, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I am sorry but when I said "there is no capital, no city, even no cape by this name", I meant to say there isn't within the country of Cape Verde. When you wrote "cap" the first time, I thought you intended an abbreviation for "capital" (this is a common usage in English). Only later I realized you meant "cape" (BTW, the word in English for "przylądek" is "cape" not "cap", as you keep writing). Also, I don't have any personal opinions on this matter. My only interest is also in ensuring correct information. Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka is certainly more correct than Zielony Przylądek in reference to the archipelago, but this does not necessarily mean that the island country is NEVER referred to simply as Zielony Przylądek. The reference in pl:Afryka (which you "fixed") was surely not an isolated occurrence. In any case, the person you should be arguing this out with is not me, but Youandme, who is certainly a native speaker of Polish as much as you and who put "Zielony Przylądek (Cape Verde)" in the article pl:Afryka. BTW, that article also lists "Wyspy Świętego Tomasza i Książęca". Should you perhaps change that "Republika Świętego Tomasza i Książęca"? Pasquale 19:28, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I'm sorry for my English (again). "Wyspy Świętego Tomasza i Książęca" is OK, but if You want full Polish name here You are: Republika Wysp Świętego Tomasza i Książęcej or even Demokratyczna Republika Wysp Świętego Tomasza i Książęcej but shortly Wyspy Świętego Tomasza i Książęca (not Świętego Tomasza i Książęca) radomil 20:48, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Of course there are texts with Zielony Przylądek as the name of country, but mainly these are translations from english with english influences or travell offices katalogs. In geographical Polish texts You have to add somthing before Zielony - Republika or Wyspy, if not this is a mistake (not serious, but mistake). See for example maps of africa in Polish (only two that I could find in internet):
 * http://www.nowe-panstwo.pl/10_2002_miesiecznik/10_2002_dossier_1.jpg
 * http://www.travelplanet.pl/gfx/_afryka.gif

Official Names
Could I lobby for a column for the official name the country identifies itself as? This could be a separate page, but putting it on this page would be more informative.--iFaqeer 01:40, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)

 * Could you lobby for what??? Dear iFaqeer, have you bothered to read the previous discussion above? Let me summarize it for you. This article used to be called "List of alternative country names". Then, at one point, a certain Jiang, insisting that it should include only the official name and variant names used within the specific country, basically hijacked the article for that purpose. The original article was renamed with the current name "List of country names in various languages" and was thankfully allowed to continue its existence. Are you proposing the same thing all over again? Please take a look at List of alternative country names. Perhaps what you need can be found there. If not, I recommend you simply click on each country name and will find the "official name" you are looking for. Click on France for example. You will find that its official name is "République française". Are you proposing that, in THIS article, we list "République française" instead or in addition to "France", and perhaps translate that into a variety of languages? Why? It seems to me the purpose of this article is to answer the question "How do you say 'France' in a bunch of other languages?". And that is how you learn that 'France' is Prankūzija in Lithuanian, Prantsusmaa in Estonian, Ranska in Finnish, Tzarfat - צרפת in Hebrew, and so on and so forth. That is what this article is for. Official names such as "République française", "Repubblica Italiana", "Confoederatio Helvetica", etc., can simply be found by clicking respectively on France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. Is that not enough? Why should we burden this article with all those wordy circumlocutions that bear little relation to the question this article attempts to answer? Thanks. Pasquale 17:26, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * That's the difference. I am not lobbying for any one point of view. Just that that information should be incorporated into what we have. I fully support the fact that the commonest English form should be the "primary key" by which the list is ordered. That way one doesn't have to "flip" to a bunch of different pages for the official names.--iFaqeer 06:15, Sep 25, 2004 (UTC)

Belarus!
I don't know who did the translation to Belarusian language, but I read first 10-12 countries names, and they are all wrong. Virtually 99% of them are wrong! --rydel 18:24, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Аўганістан not Афганистан
 * Альбанія not Албания
 * Альжыр not Алжир
 * Антыгуа і Барбуда not Антигуа и Барбуда
 * Аргенціна not Аргентина
 * Армэнія not Армения
 * Don't complain to us about it, just correct them! Obviously someone wasn't bothering to distinguish between Belarusian and Russian. --Angr 21:54, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Burma or Myanmar? "Most commonly used" criterion?
At Myanmar there's a lengthy discussion about whether Burma should redirect to Myanmar (the way it is now) or Myanmar to Burma, or some other variation. I don't want to start that whole argument again, but I would like to point out that the instructions for this page say that the most commonly used English name for a country is used, rather than the name that is considered "correct". Bearing that in mind, I humbly submit that we move the "Myanmar" entry on this page to "Burma", because "Burma" is still much more commonly used in English than Myanmar. I've already added a line for "Burma" saying "see Myanmar", but if nobody objects I'd rather have the information listed at "Burma" instead.

While we're at it, I think the "most commonly used name" criterion should apply to other languages as well. For example, in the above discussion about what to call Cape Verde in Polish, the criterion should not be what Polish maps say, or what the Cape Verdean embassy in Warsaw calls itself, but rather what the average Pole says when he mentions to a friend, "I'm going to Cape Verde on my holiday next winter."

Nevertheless implementing the "most commonly used" criterion too rigidly could result in mistranslations. For example, probably the most commonly used name for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in English is "the U.K.", but in German it's "Großbritannien" or even "England". (German friends thought it was ridiculously pedantic of me to correct them when they asked me how my trip to "England" was when I got back from Edinburgh.) But obviously this article shouldn't pretend that the German name for "United Kingdom" is "Großbritannien" or "England", and it's beyond the scope of this article to point out that "Vereinigtes Königreich" sounds like officialese in German even though "United Kingdom" or its abbreviation "U.K." sounds quite normal in English. --Angr 21:54, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Non Roman script
This list is quite interesting, maybe even useful.

One problem as I see it is the presence of non-Roman scripts like Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese (not to mention Indian languages, Thai, etc.). The problem is not very acute yet because many of these languages have yet to be added.

But when they are, we will have a jumble of scripts that no single person can read in its entirety. Now, in one sense the list is primarily a reference from which the user can pick the languages he/she needs. A speaker of Chinese would have no problem with Chinese characters, an Arabic-speaker with Arabic script, etc. . On the other hand, meaningless and indecipherable scripts are not of great value to the casual visitor who may be interested in seeing what a country is called in other languages. So the practice of adding Romanisation should really be adopted (as many have done already).

However, implementing this could end up causing a lot of complexity and confusion. I suggest that a standard format might be useful. That would make it easier to wade through the resulting mixture of exotic scripts and romanisation. An example might be: ベトナム =Betonamu (Japanese), 越南 =Etsunan (historic/academic Japanese), 越南 =Yuènán (Chinese). Or we could follow the usage that is already partly followed by some: Betonamu - ベトナム (Japanese), Etsunan - 越南 (historic/academic Japanese), Yuènán - 越南 (Chinese). There is a difference of order here (Romanisation first, native script second or native script first, Romanisation second) as well as a choice of links (hyphen, equal sign, or maybe nothing at all). What do others think? Bathrobe 05:00, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I think you're right that romanization is needed, and we already had an inofficial standard of sorts before non-European languages. The practice that was established was to write: "Romanization — native script (language)", for example "Arzhentina - Аржентина (Bulgarian)". But the problem with that is, some scripts (most non-European scripts, in fact) do not lend themselves well to being written in italics. CJK characters, as far as I know, are never written in italics in real life, and so they shouldn't be here; neither are the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. Maybe we should abandon the italics altogether and just go with "Romanization — native script (language)". The next problem is deciding on a romanization. Many languages have no official Romanization and several inofficial ones, or they may have an official Romanization that is different from the best-known one. The Bulgarian example above could also have been romanized Aržentina; and neither Hebrew nor Arabic has one single widely acknowledged romanization system. Still, maybe we can at least agree on a format for entries; agreeing on a romanization system is a different problem. I'm going to add a suggestion to the top of the page, and see what others think. --Angr/undefined 06:56, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

I was just revising my original note when you added your comment! OK, we can go with the current de facto system. It's probably cleaner and easier to understand than using equal signs or just leaving a space. I look forward to seeing your suggestion. For Chinese, pinyin is now pretty well accepted so there is no problem. For Japanese I might suggest Hepburn, with macrons (ō, not ou). For Thai, Korean, Arabic, etc., I guess there may be problems. Bathrobe 07:02, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

I've fixed up Afghanistan by adding Chinese romanisation as well as Japanese. I presume this is what you had in mind. (I can't do anything with the Indian languages). Bathrobe 07:18, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Hi Bathrobe, If you check the history, you will see that there was a standard format of Romanization - native script, as Angr has already pointed out (although I don't believe the wiki mdash was used). Unfortunately, the more recent additions ignore that format, just like they ignore alphabetization, as well as other formatting. I suggest we keep the same format, including using the italics for the native language, when possible, because it looks better that way, and just forget about the italics for Hebrew, Arabic, CJK, and the South Asian scripts. Pasquale 19:32, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I recently redid the whole page, replacing entities with characters, and I also got rid of all the italics, because so few non-Roman alphabets really use them. I thought for consistency's sake it was better to have no italics at all than italics only in Cyrillic (and Greek, though I don't know to what extent italics are actually used in Greek writing). --Angr/undefined 19:46, 11 October 2005 (UTC)
 * OK, then, fine. Pasquale 20:44, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

When I added and corrected Greek and Bulgarian names, I used these romanization systems: Markussep 14:01, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
 * for Greek: UN/ELOT, see Transliteration of Greek into English;
 * for Bulgarian: the official Bulgarian one (well, for personal names), see: Transliteration of Bulgarian into English.

Very long
I've added the verylong template because the article is 145 kb long, which is about three times longer than a good Wikipedia article should be. I'd like to discuss possibilities for breaking it up. The most obvious solution to my mind is to break it up by letters of the alphabet, for example: but I'm open to other suggestions. --Angr/undefined 17:55, 12 October 2005 (UTC)
 * List of country names in various languages (A-C)
 * List of country names in various languages (D-I)
 * List of country names in various languages (J-P)
 * List of country names in various languages (Q-Z)

Angr, you could also divide them by continents, e.g.: or some such. Pasquale 00:16, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * List of country names in various languages (Africa)
 * List of country names in various languages (Asia)
 * List of country names in various languages (Americas)
 * List of country names in various languages (Europe)
 * List of country names in various languages (Oceania)

That's also a possibility, but the way the list is now I suspect List of country names in various languages (Europe) would still be too long and List of country names in various languages (Africa) would be barely a stub. --Angr/undefined 07:03, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Another argument against going by continent is that it will entail wrangling over countries like Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, for which there will be arguments as to whether they should be in Europe or Asia. --Angr/undefined 13:17, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Excellent points. Well, you're the Wikimaster, so you make the call. Pasquale 21:20, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Being an administrator gives me more power, not more authority. I'd still like to field suggestions before doing anything rash. --Angr/undefined 21:32, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Well, it's been five days and no one but Pasquale has said anything so I'm being bold. --Angr/undefined 22:02, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

 * I support the division by country names in alphabetical order. Olessi 23:13, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your support. Now that it's done, I'm taking the verylong tag off. --Angr/undefined 23:24, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

About the Articles for deletion/List of country names in various languages
I have posted an extensive ex post-facto Explanation on Mikkalai's talk page, in case anyone's interested. Pasquale 20:56, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

English alphabetical order and foreign diacritics
I would like to know, how are foreign names, which include various diacritics, treated in English language lists? Here, at the List of country names in various languages, the alphabetical order of various language alternatives of the same name does not seem to follow any rule as far as the diacritics is concerned. What is the correct order eg. for Armenia, Armênia, Armènia, Arménia and Armenía? I know that other languages have their rules for treating foreign diacritics, does anybody know, how is this done in English?Jan.Kamenicek 11:11, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * This is my understanding of this issue: The diacritics do not affect the English alphabetical sorting. However, if several entries are exactly identical, except for the diacritics, as in the example you cited, they should be ranked starting with the entry without diacritics, then the entries with diacritics, beginning with those with the diacritics further to the left, with the diacritics in the following order (for example, for e): è é ê ë. So, for the example you cited, he answer is: Armenia, Armènia, Arménia, Armênia, Armenía. (By the way, the same happens in most Western European languages, except for French, where it is the same, except that the entries with diacritics are ranked beginning with those with the diacritics further to the right.) Pasquale 16:36, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for explanation. Do you know also the ordering of other diacritical marks, such as breve, caron, cedilla, ogonek and others? Jan.Kamenicek 20:28, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure, but I would apply the same principle and simply add those after the ones I mentioned. For example, a word which includes e with ogonek would follow another word which is identical but for the diacritic.  Pasquale 21:37, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it is clear if we need to order words with and without diacritics. But sometimes we need to order words with different diacritics. Which goes first: Čína or Ċina (Czech and Maltese names for "China")? Jan.Kamenicek 08:39, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Ouch. That's a tough one. I would put the Maltese form first, because it has only one diacritic, but I'm not sure. Pasquale 22:09, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

New Discussion
A discussion has been started at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countries/Lists of countries which could affect the inclusion criteria and title of this and other lists of countries. Editors are invited to participate. Pfainuk talk 11:46, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

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text:
Public holidays in Taiwan

The following are considered holidays in Taiwan. Some are official holidays, and some are not:

Unofficial holidays
The following holidays are also observed on Taiwan but are not official holidays observed by civil servants of the central government. Some sectors of the workforce may have time off on some of the following holidays, such as Labor Day, Armed Forces Day, and Teachers' Day.

Before 1949, a number of public holidays were celebrated by certain ethnic minorities in regions within the ROC, which were decided by local governments and entities. Since 1949, these holidays continued to be celebrated by ethnic groups as such in Taiwan Area only.

title: Public holidays in Taiwan


text:
Ban (law)

A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. Ban is also used as a verb similar in meaning to "to prohibit".

Etymology
In current English usage, ban is mostly synonymous with prohibition. Historically, Old English (ge)bann is a derivation from the verb bannan "to summon, command, proclaim" from an earlier Common Germanic *bannan "to command, forbid, banish, curse". The modern sense "to prohibit" is influenced by the cognate Old Norse banna "to curse, to prohibit" and also from Old French ban, ultimately a loan from Old Frankish, meaning "outlawry, banishment".

The Indo-European etymology of the Germanic term is from a root *bha- meaning "to speak". Its original meaning was magical, referring to utterances that carried a power to curse.

Banned political parties
In many countries political parties or groups are banned. Parties may be banned for many reasons, including extremism and anti-democratic ideologies, on ethnic or religious grounds, and sometimes simply because the group opposes government policies, with the ban sometimes alleging wrongdoing as the cause. Germany, for instance, has a long history behind its modern practice of banning political parties. The Nazi Party was banned in 1923; after the Nazi Party came into power in 1933 opposing parties such as the Social Democrats (SPD) and Communist Party of Germany (KPD) were banned, the Nazi Party was again banned and the ban on other parties lifted after the Nazi defeat in 1945, and the Communist Party was again banned from 1956 to 1968.

Banning marriages
There have been many bans on marriages, and sometimes other sexual liaisons, between people of different ethnic background or religion, for example between non-Jews and Jews in Nazi Germany, people classified as "white" and non-whites in apartheid South Africa, etc.

For much of the 1800s and 1900s there were bans on marriage between people of different races (interracial marriage) in many of the United States. However, the ban on interracial marriage was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1967 in the landmark civil rights case Loving vs. Virginia, in which the Court ruled Virginia's miscegenation law an unconstitutional violation of the fundamental right to marriage. Historically child marriage was common, but is now banned in many countries.

Holy Roman Empire
The Imperial ban was a form of outlawry in the Holy Roman Empire. At different times, it could be declared by the Holy Roman Emperor, by courts including the League of the Holy Court (Vehmgericht, ) and the Reichskammergericht, or by the Imperial Diet. People under Imperial ban lost all their rights and possessions, and anyone had the right to rob, injure or kill such persons without legal consequences. The Imperial ban automatically followed the excommunication of a person, and extended to anyone offering help to a person under the imperial ban.

Under apartheid in South Africa
During the apartheid régime in South Africa, the National Party government issued banning orders to individuals seen to be threats to its power — often black politicians or organizations — these banning orders acted as suppression orders. Individuals or organisations and critical medias banned by the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (which effectively defined "Communism" as opposition to the government) could not communicate with more than one person at any time unless at home (thus preventing them from engaging in political activities), travel to outside a specific magisterial district without government approval. The order had mostly domestic effect with versatile legal formative effects. These were for example: local or supra-regional residence restrictions, the prohibition of public expression of opinion, prohibition of printed publications and prohibition of citation in journalistic or scientific contexts the writings of the affecting persons or the participation of gatherings. Measures of this kind could also be applied to groups of people, organisations (for example the Defence Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1966) and institutions (for example the Christian Institute, 1977). There were several laws that legalised such actions (Riotous Assemblies Act - 1914 and later 1956, Unlawful Organisations Act - 1960, Suppression of Communism Amendment Act - 1967, Internal Security Act - 1976, 1982, 1986). The General Law Amendment Act, No. 76 of 1962 empowered the Minister of Justice to publish the banned persons in the Government Gazette. Helen Suzman, a liberal member of the South African parliament, defended the right of free assembly and freedom of expression for all citizens in 1986 and pointed to the growing confrontation between the black population and the police.

The banishment of persons, i.e. expulsion from their place of residence, was practised in smaller numbers. Between 1948 and 1967, this affected 156 people. After 1972, this measure was only applied sporadically.

Health and safety
Bans in various jurisdictions on possession of some weapons, smoking, and narcotic drugs are enacted to exert control over the general public.

title: Ban (law)


text:
Category:Soviet Air Force

 * Soviet Air Forces — part of the Soviet Armed Forces, along with the.

title: Category:Soviet Air Force


text:
King Ban

Ban of Benoic (Old French: Ban de Bénoïc) is a character in Arthurian legend. King Ban first appeared by this name in the Lancelot propre part of the 13th-century French Vulgate Cycle as the ruler of the realm in France named Benoic (Bénoïc; alternatively Benewic, Benoich, Benoit, Benuic, Benwick) and father of Sir Lancelot and Sir Hector de Maris, as well as brother of King Bors. Ban of Benoic largely corresponds to the other versions of the father of Lancelot, including Pant of Gen[n]ewis in the German Lanzelet, Haud of Schuwake in the English Sir Lancelot du Lake, and Domolot of Lokva in the Belarusian Povest' o Tryshchane.

Role in Arthurian romances
Ban's kingdom of Benoic, the capital of which is Trebe (Trèbe), is located at the border between Armorican Brittany and Gaul. With his wife Queen Elaine (Élaine, a sister of King Bors' wife Evaine), King Ban begets the future great knight Lancelot (birth name Galahad, Galaad). Earlier, thanks to Merlin's magic, he sleeps with the Lady de Maris (Dame des Mares), who becomes illegitimately pregnant with Hector de Maris (Hector des Mares), Lancelot's half-brother and later one of his closest companions and followers.

King Ban is first shown campaigning in the insular Britain in support of the young King Arthur. His castle is located in the middle of a marsh reputed to be impregnable, but the neighboring lord, King Claudas of the Wasteland, manages to set it on fire. Ban alone manages to escape along with his wife and their son but, overwhelmed by the disaster, promptly dies of grief. At this moment, the infant Lancelot is taken by the Lady of the Lake to her abode, where he is later joined by the now also dead Bors the Elder's sons Lionel and Bors the Younger. When the children grow up and become Knights of the Round Table, they aid Arthur in finally defeating Claudas and reclaiming their fathers' land. The war between King Ban and Claudas may symbolize the early medieval struggle of the Bretons against the invading Franks.

Origin in Welsh myth
According to Roger Sherman Loomis, "Ban is usually called Ban of Benoic, easily accounted for as a misunderstanding of Bran le Benoit, an exact translation of the Welsh Bendigeid Bran, or 'Bran the Blessed'." That is, the Vulgate author has misread and misconstrued the Old French benoit (='blessed') to be the name of a non-existent realm Benoic - of which he deduces King B(r)an to have been the ruler. The name Ban de Benoic/Benewic is also found in mutated form as Pant von Genewis (scribal error where initial 'B' misread as 'G') in another early Arthurian text treating of the hero Lancelot, namely the Lanzelet of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven.

As professors Loomis and Helaine Newstead have demonstrated, there is a tendency for individual figures from Celtic mythology to yield multiple characters in Arthurian romances and this process is apparent in the number of Arthurian characters whose names and/or attributes can be traced back to the gigantic king (see also Fisher King) and probable deity, Brân, whose exploits are recounted in Branwen ferch Llŷr (see also Llŷr), the second of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi. Newstead wrote: "The evidence concerning Ban, though it survives in obscure and refractory forms, nevertheless preserves connections with Baudemaguz, Brangor, Bron and Corbenic."

Loomis believed one of the authors of the Vulgate Lancelot preserved the memory of two figures from Welsh myth through their relation to Welsh toponyms: if it be accepted that the character of King Ban is indeed derived (as noted above) from Brân the Blessed, it follows that the Kingdom of King Ban is to be equated with the 'Land of Brân', which in Welsh designates the northeast of Wales. Abutting on the 'Land of Brân' was the 'Retreat of Gwri' (now known as the Wirral peninsula). Loomis suggested that the name Bohours de Gannes given to the brother of King Ban / Brân in the Vulgate text is part scribal error ('Bohours' for an original, 'Gwri'-derived 'Gohours') and part geographical rationalization (substitution of 'Gannes' for 'Galles', i.e. of 'Gaul' for 'Wales').

In modern culture
Ban is depicted as the "Fox Sin of Greed", as well as the member of the titular group of knights, in Nakaba Suzuki's manga The Seven Deadly Sins and in its anime adaptation. In the series, Ban is depicted as tall, with spiky white hair and a very youthful appearance, due to having drunk from the Fountain of Youth. He eventually has a child named Lancelot at the end of the series.

title: King Ban


text:
Albion (Blake)

In the mythology of William Blake, Albion is the primeval man whose fall and division results in the Four Zoas: Urizen, Tharmas, Luvah/Orc and Urthona/Los. The name derives from the ancient and mythological name of Britain, Albion.

Usage
The long, unfinished poem properly called Vala, or The Four Zoas expands the significance of the Zoas, but they are integral to all of Blake's prophetic books.

Blake's painting of a naked figure raising his arms, loosely based on Vitruvian Man, is now identified as a portrayal of Albion, following the discovery of a printed version with an inscription identifying the figure. It was formerly known as "Glad Day", since it was assumed by Alexander Gilchrist to illustrate a quotation from Shakespeare.

Blake also uses the name Albion in its traditional meaning, as an ancient synonym for Britain, in his poem "A Little Boy Lost" in Songs of Experience. The poem tells about a young boy who, using reason, realizes that humans are selfish, and that "naught loves another as itself". He asks the priest: "Father, how can I love you / or any of my brothers more? / I love you like the bird that picks up crumbs around the door". The priest accuses the boy of blasphemy, and burns him "in a holy place / where many had been burned before". Blake concludes the poem by asking: "Are such things done on Albion's shore?"

Children
The Sons of Albion feature in the poem Jerusalem. They are 12, and are named as Hand, Hyle, Coban, Guantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd, Hutton, Scofield, Kox, Kotope, Bowen. These names are mostly drawn from figures from Blake's 1803 sedition trial.

The Daughters of Albion feature in Visions of the Daughters of Albion, and other prophetic books. They are named, not consistently though, in The Four Zoas and in Jerusalem:

 * 1) Gwendolen
 * 2)  Ragan
 * 3)  Sabrina
 * 4)  Gonorill
 * 5)  Mehetabel
 * 6)  Cordella
 * 7)  Boadicea/Gwiniverra
 * 8)  Conwenna
 * 9)  Estrild
 * 10)  Gwinefrid
 * 11)  Ignoge
 * 12)  Cambel

Gwiniverra has replaced Boadicea, who is later equated with Cambel. They are mostly drawn from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and John Milton's The History of Britain.

title: Albion (Blake)