Hello. My name is Joey. I'm 19, from the north of England.
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I am a self-professed enthusiast of linguistics, etymology, and languages in general. My focus is on Brittonic-Celtic and Germanic languages.
The main subject of the site is of course Norn, so I will talk a little bit about that. As someone who loves Germanic languages, Norn was of inevitable interest to me! I find it really amazing that the extreme north of Scotland was able to conserve a Scandinavian language for such a long time! I am quite sad that things didn't stay that way, and that Norn vanished from the tongues of Orcadians and Shetlanders. I adjudge Norn to be an essential part of Scottish history, and the culture of the Sutherland, Caithness and the Northern Isles, and would quite like to see efforts made towards a reconstruction of this language and perhaps even a revival.
I am really enthusiastic about Brittonic languages. I have concentrated a lot of time, effort and research into understanding the nature of the Pictish language (hence my very lengthy first post about it!). I am considering writing a book in this vein, combining my own findings with those of established scholars (I think that Katherine Forsyth has been exemplary in this regard) to make the case for a Brittonic language being behind Pictish, focusing in particular on place-names and the various Ogham inscriptions.
I mentioned place-names, and while toponymy in general is for me a big area of interest, a topic of particular significance to me is Brittonic names in northern England (i.e. Leeds, Carlisle, Wigan...) and Scotland (Perth, Glasgow, Aberdeen...). I'm at this time reading William J Watson's "Celtic Place Names of Scotland", a great read, very comprehensive and absolutely essential for anyone passionate about this topic. I particularly like Watson's discussion of Scottish river-names.
The etymology of specifically the name "London" is something I am very interested in. For such an important place, the etymology behind the name has bewildered toponymists, with no certainty about its derivation. Myself, I tend to prefer the "Old European" *Plowonida thesis of Coates, from roots meaning "to flow, swim; boat" -- but opine that Welsh lonydd, "tranquil" merits consideration (acknowledging that "tranquil" would less than describe London today!)
A relationship between the Indo-European languages and those of the Afroasiatic family is another subject in which I have invested a fair amount of research, and intend to do more.
In terms of my knowledge of languages outwith English, I can understand, to a certain extent, spoken Welsh, and know just about enough French to get by. My interest in North Germanic languages has inspired me to learn some Norwegian, which is what I am currently doing. I improve my Welsh all of the time.
Very fanciful it may sound, but I've been investigating linguistic evidence in native North American languages for Prince Madoc of Gwynedd's legendary journey, supposedly from Wales to what would become the Untied States, in 1170. Dismissed as folklore by many, I think that it is all but impossible to know the truth about this. My quest for evidence in the languages of America has, nevertheless, yielded some intriguing results (if any of this is of interest to you, then I'll gladly share it!).
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I don't look it whatsoever, but I am very much a history nerd. My main areas of interest in that regard are Celtic Britain, Vikings, the Crusades (particularly the First, Third and Fourth Crusades, and the politics of the Crusader states), England under Henry II, Russia (between 1850-1991) World War II, and the Cold War.
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I am a genealogy enthusiast, and inspired by I've for a long while been interested in researching my own family tree, in which some of the folks over at the British Genealogy forum have been of great assistance, I owe a lot to them. I won't go overboard on the details, a good amount of my heritage is English, especially from Durham, Northumberland, Yorkshire (Viking country!), Lancashire, Derbyshire and Cheshire...I have a fair amount of Scottish on both sides, I have Irish on my maternal side, my Irish ancestors hailed from a village called Kilkieran, although there's two places so-named in Ireland, and the records I've found do not specify which one!
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I am an animal lover. I own a dog, a husky.
I am a music enthusiast, my biggest passion! I am a vocalist, I've played guitar (both acoustic and electric) since I was 14, and I'm a very good rhythm guitarist. I enjoy a wide variety of music, though 70s rock, psychedelic, heavy-rock/metal, punk/new-wave, progressive/experimental, grunge, alternative and folk-music are my favorites.
To give a very long and varied list of my favorite artists, I'll name: Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, MC5, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Winter Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, the Pentangle, Fairport Convention, Lindisfarne, Jethro Tull, Caravan, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Dio, UFO, Motorhead, Judas Priest, AC-DC, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Boston, Ted Nugent, New York Dolls, Kiss, Tom Petty and the Heart-breakers, Sex Pistols, Sham 69, the Jam, Squeeze, the Cars, Elvis Costello, Skid Row, Motley Crue, Slayer, Metallica, Pantera, White Zombie, Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Pixies, Tom Waits, Meat Puppets, the Proclaimers, R.E.M., Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, My Sisters Machine, L7, Flop, Bush, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, and Manic Street Preachers.
I love going to see bands live, usually some fairly underground guitar-based act, I've been to a few big gigs, like Foo Fighters, Neil Young and Kiss.
I like sport. I love football, and am a massive Leeds United fan. Bit of an athletic guy, I've been a rugby player here-and-there (I played a few positions, usually winger, fullback and scrumhalf too); my personal rugby allegiance lies with the Leeds Rhinos (league) and Carnegie (union).
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Sadly, I don't really have a job right now. But I am, hopefully, to start my firefighter training soon!
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I am a really keen traveler. I returned last month from the trip of a lifetime in Australia, visiting Sydney, Uluru and Port Douglas (to see the Great Barrier Reef). Last year, I had the fortune of visiting Boston, Massachusetts, US, which is my favourite city I ever visited (some people accuse me of having an obsession with the town!). Boston is history-rich, and it being the site of the Boston Tea Party of 1773 is just a small part of that, the Freedom Trail I recommend to anyone interested in the American Revolution, there are some amazing sites to be seen, and I came to appreciate that Boston was in many ways the birthplace of the modern United States. Outstanding are the views from the top of the Prudential Centre Building, with not only fantastic views of the city, but also of the surrounding countryside. A part of me wants to live in Boston eventually.
I love visiting places in the nearby countires too. I love North Wales and Cardiff, and the Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness especially, hold a special place in my heart. I keen mountaineer, I've climbed the highest peaks in England (Scafell) and Wales (Mt Snowdon), and hope to climb Ben Nevis in the future.
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If there's anything else I should say about myself then you can just ask!
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