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Archive 1 | Archive 2 |
Doesn't the name Leodhas come from Leod the King of Man and the Northern Isles who used to rule the western isles?
No - It comes from the old Norse Ljodhus meaning water lying on the surface. It may mean Land of the People however. Leod was a relative of Olaf the Black and took the name from Ljodhus his realm. This founded the Clan McLeod who ruled Lewis until ousted by MacKenzie of Kintail and the Scots crown in 1611. There are still 3,000 Macleods on the island today. So many misleading inaccuracies on this. I wonder who ill-educated buffoons who write this are!
Mointeach
derived from the Gaelic word for "peat-covered"
Sorry, this flag flys at the home of the Honorary Norwegian Consulate for the Islands and is not the Lewis flag. -- User:86.133.145.30 01:52, 6 October 2005 [comment moved from article page -- Solipsist 08:59, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
This family are the Honorary Norwegian Consulate and also the Honorary Swedish Consulate - That is a fact!
I tend to agree that there is no Lewis flag; but I could well be wrong. Is there anyone out-there who has actually seen it in use anywhere official? It's not quite enough to add "(unofficial)" to the end as I could draw a flag myself with my crayons and call it the unofficial Lewis flag. As no one seems to know where it's from or what it's for, it's best to leave it out unless a very reliable source can be found for its accuracy imho. MRM 12:19, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
May we please remove the redirect when one types in 'Lewis', that automatically ends in this page? With all respect, there are enough other Lewises out there, many historical figures, that the disambig page would be the better one to redirect to, as being more general. Thanks for your consideration Kintetsubuffalo 08:25, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
My family are from Lewis and I've often wondered where the name came from. It's obvious that virtually all the place names on the Island are not Gaelic but Gaelic spellings of Norse name places. My ex-wife is Icelandic and the Icelandic language today is effectively a modern version of Old Norse. One of our many Icelandic friends who knew about my connection to the Island found a map from Oslo, in a text book, dating back some several hundred years. He photocopied the map and presented it to me. He & the other Icelanders present then proceeded to go over the many places names on the map translating them. On a side note if you visit Iceland today you will find places with names like "Ness", "Grimishader", "Reef", etc. (my former father-in-law even called Lewis in his own tongue "Súðreyjar", see Wiki entry for "Western Isles") The most interesting marking on the map was the name of the Island in large letter across it, Ljóðhús. This the Icelanders told me was simply just "The Poet's House(Home)". If you take time to read the Icelandic (Old Norse) Saga's you will learn that Poetry is a central part of the Old Norse custom. Take for example Egil's Saga where he saves his life by composing a long, witty poem to present to the Norwegian King on the morning of his execution. Poetry was held in very high regard by the Nordic people of those ages and still is an important part today in Icelandic and Scandanvian culture. So the translation of the Island makes a lot of sense, I would think that the poet the name refers to is Leod the 12th century ruler of the island. So MacLeod would be "son of the poet". I have a copy of the map, feel free to ask me for a viewing and if you want confirmation of my claims show it to any scholar of Old Norse or an Icelander to verify what I've updated the entry for Lewis with.
The result of the debate was don't move. — Nightst a llion (?) 14:50, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
As there are multiple Lewises, of import to different groups of people, I have requested to the moderators to move this page to "Lewis, Scotland". Not worried about which is more notable, more about each being notable enough to have their specifics mentioned in the title of their article, as per Wikipedia policy. Chris 01:05, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Whatever title it's moved to, the island is almost certainly the primary meaning of "Lewis" without further qualification, so "Lewis" should redirect here - on no account should it become the disambiguation page. I would propose moving to Isle of Lewis rather than Lewis, Scotland, as that is more natural to link to and is already a redirect with a number of links to it. The same set-up already works well for Isle of Skye. Lewis, Scotland, meanwhile, has no incoming links other than from this page and the requested moves page. -- Blisco 08:41, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
There are some 240 links coming into this page (although about 60 of them are via a redirect from Isle of Lewis). That establishes that this page is in the correct place and people naturally link the word 'Lewis' meaning the island. Most of the other links on Lewis (disambiguation) are to homophones or places that include Lewis in the name, but that are not necessarily refered to as just 'Lewis'. Similarly few if any of the people on Lewis (surname) would be linked as just 'Lewis'. So unless someone can show that any of these other pages have anything like 240 links, this page should stay here. -- Solipsist 09:45, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
There has been an alteration to the language spoken in Lewis which is plainly ridiculous. Having grown up and lived on the island most of my life, I can assure you that while there is a large gaidhlig speaking population, English is the dominant language. I am not saying this is a good or a bad thing, just that it is. The vast majority of education on the islands is carried out through the English language. Children speak English in the playgrounds. Exams are in English. There are, however, some gaidhlig-medium units about now, but this is unlikely to change the situation any time soon. Were this article about Lewis roughly 60-70 years ago, then it would be right to say that English is only spoken now due to a few immigrants.
With respect, the fact that the census says most people speak it does not make it the predominant language. If you have ever been there, you will realise what most people speak is the equivalent of franglish. There are very few true gaidhlig speakers left, especially in the town. It is you who is violating the NPOV policy and are mistaking opinion for fact. I do wish that it were the main language, as it is terrible to lose a culture, it is in a process of revival but is nowhere near the main language. You can easily find non-gaidhlig speakers there (not just incomers) but try finding a non-english speaking adult!
You can say that New Zealand is full of Jedis, by quoting the census. Lewis has a lot of Gaidhlig speakers, certainly, but even out of Stornoway, the majority of people speak English. Apart from a few Gaidhlig medium units, education is primarily through English. Just as I cannot "prove" there are no Jedi in New Zealand, I cannot prove what is true in that most people in Lewis are anglophones.
The map here doesn't look quite right - it seems to show North Harris as part of Lewis. See Talk:Harris. Interplanet Janet 12:13, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
I've added an info-box. It's based on the UK places template, not the Scottish places one as the Scottish one is about to be merged into the UK one. Feel free to tidy, correct and improve. MRM 16:02, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
Although I added HS2 as a second post code for Lewis, the function does not seem to work. I suggest leaving it in place meantime as the template is still under construction. MRM 11:33, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
The photos on this page look great, but's its a shame that they seem to suggest that the island is uninhabited/stuck in a time warp where the 19th century has yet to arrive. Could anyone add a few photos to show 'modern' life exists on Lewis?-- JBellis 18:49, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
Due to the persistent vandalism of this article by (presumably) children determined to say that someone they know of the name "Lewis" may be different to themselves, or their soul-mates, I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile seeing whether this article could be protected so that only signed-in people can edit it? Any opinions? MRM 20:54, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Isle of Lewis/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
Comment(s) | Press [show] to view → |
---|---|
Lead para needs work per WP:MOS to include a brief, cited reference to each of the main sections.
The Topography section could be improved by adding a little more Geology - although an alternative would be for Lewis and Harris to cover this subject with a note to this effect here. In general the article is poorly sourced and could do with input from well-known authors who cover the subject e.g. Murray, Haswell-Smith, Fraser Darling. Religion could be expanded with a little historical information to explain why it is important. Nature - odd to begin with reptiles when there is so little to say. Move to its own section at the end. References should come after the full stop, not before. Capitals are not used consistently for species names. I don't know why, but GA candidates should not sport Galleries. There is lots of good information here and clearly the article could acheive GA with a little effort, essentially with improvements to the style of presentation rather than the need for a great deal of new content. Ben MacDui (Talk) 13:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC) |
Last edited at 13:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 20:42, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 |
Doesn't the name Leodhas come from Leod the King of Man and the Northern Isles who used to rule the western isles?
No - It comes from the old Norse Ljodhus meaning water lying on the surface. It may mean Land of the People however. Leod was a relative of Olaf the Black and took the name from Ljodhus his realm. This founded the Clan McLeod who ruled Lewis until ousted by MacKenzie of Kintail and the Scots crown in 1611. There are still 3,000 Macleods on the island today. So many misleading inaccuracies on this. I wonder who ill-educated buffoons who write this are!
Mointeach
derived from the Gaelic word for "peat-covered"
Sorry, this flag flys at the home of the Honorary Norwegian Consulate for the Islands and is not the Lewis flag. -- User:86.133.145.30 01:52, 6 October 2005 [comment moved from article page -- Solipsist 08:59, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
This family are the Honorary Norwegian Consulate and also the Honorary Swedish Consulate - That is a fact!
I tend to agree that there is no Lewis flag; but I could well be wrong. Is there anyone out-there who has actually seen it in use anywhere official? It's not quite enough to add "(unofficial)" to the end as I could draw a flag myself with my crayons and call it the unofficial Lewis flag. As no one seems to know where it's from or what it's for, it's best to leave it out unless a very reliable source can be found for its accuracy imho. MRM 12:19, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
May we please remove the redirect when one types in 'Lewis', that automatically ends in this page? With all respect, there are enough other Lewises out there, many historical figures, that the disambig page would be the better one to redirect to, as being more general. Thanks for your consideration Kintetsubuffalo 08:25, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
My family are from Lewis and I've often wondered where the name came from. It's obvious that virtually all the place names on the Island are not Gaelic but Gaelic spellings of Norse name places. My ex-wife is Icelandic and the Icelandic language today is effectively a modern version of Old Norse. One of our many Icelandic friends who knew about my connection to the Island found a map from Oslo, in a text book, dating back some several hundred years. He photocopied the map and presented it to me. He & the other Icelanders present then proceeded to go over the many places names on the map translating them. On a side note if you visit Iceland today you will find places with names like "Ness", "Grimishader", "Reef", etc. (my former father-in-law even called Lewis in his own tongue "Súðreyjar", see Wiki entry for "Western Isles") The most interesting marking on the map was the name of the Island in large letter across it, Ljóðhús. This the Icelanders told me was simply just "The Poet's House(Home)". If you take time to read the Icelandic (Old Norse) Saga's you will learn that Poetry is a central part of the Old Norse custom. Take for example Egil's Saga where he saves his life by composing a long, witty poem to present to the Norwegian King on the morning of his execution. Poetry was held in very high regard by the Nordic people of those ages and still is an important part today in Icelandic and Scandanvian culture. So the translation of the Island makes a lot of sense, I would think that the poet the name refers to is Leod the 12th century ruler of the island. So MacLeod would be "son of the poet". I have a copy of the map, feel free to ask me for a viewing and if you want confirmation of my claims show it to any scholar of Old Norse or an Icelander to verify what I've updated the entry for Lewis with.
The result of the debate was don't move. — Nightst a llion (?) 14:50, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
As there are multiple Lewises, of import to different groups of people, I have requested to the moderators to move this page to "Lewis, Scotland". Not worried about which is more notable, more about each being notable enough to have their specifics mentioned in the title of their article, as per Wikipedia policy. Chris 01:05, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
Whatever title it's moved to, the island is almost certainly the primary meaning of "Lewis" without further qualification, so "Lewis" should redirect here - on no account should it become the disambiguation page. I would propose moving to Isle of Lewis rather than Lewis, Scotland, as that is more natural to link to and is already a redirect with a number of links to it. The same set-up already works well for Isle of Skye. Lewis, Scotland, meanwhile, has no incoming links other than from this page and the requested moves page. -- Blisco 08:41, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
There are some 240 links coming into this page (although about 60 of them are via a redirect from Isle of Lewis). That establishes that this page is in the correct place and people naturally link the word 'Lewis' meaning the island. Most of the other links on Lewis (disambiguation) are to homophones or places that include Lewis in the name, but that are not necessarily refered to as just 'Lewis'. Similarly few if any of the people on Lewis (surname) would be linked as just 'Lewis'. So unless someone can show that any of these other pages have anything like 240 links, this page should stay here. -- Solipsist 09:45, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
There has been an alteration to the language spoken in Lewis which is plainly ridiculous. Having grown up and lived on the island most of my life, I can assure you that while there is a large gaidhlig speaking population, English is the dominant language. I am not saying this is a good or a bad thing, just that it is. The vast majority of education on the islands is carried out through the English language. Children speak English in the playgrounds. Exams are in English. There are, however, some gaidhlig-medium units about now, but this is unlikely to change the situation any time soon. Were this article about Lewis roughly 60-70 years ago, then it would be right to say that English is only spoken now due to a few immigrants.
With respect, the fact that the census says most people speak it does not make it the predominant language. If you have ever been there, you will realise what most people speak is the equivalent of franglish. There are very few true gaidhlig speakers left, especially in the town. It is you who is violating the NPOV policy and are mistaking opinion for fact. I do wish that it were the main language, as it is terrible to lose a culture, it is in a process of revival but is nowhere near the main language. You can easily find non-gaidhlig speakers there (not just incomers) but try finding a non-english speaking adult!
You can say that New Zealand is full of Jedis, by quoting the census. Lewis has a lot of Gaidhlig speakers, certainly, but even out of Stornoway, the majority of people speak English. Apart from a few Gaidhlig medium units, education is primarily through English. Just as I cannot "prove" there are no Jedi in New Zealand, I cannot prove what is true in that most people in Lewis are anglophones.
The map here doesn't look quite right - it seems to show North Harris as part of Lewis. See Talk:Harris. Interplanet Janet 12:13, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
I've added an info-box. It's based on the UK places template, not the Scottish places one as the Scottish one is about to be merged into the UK one. Feel free to tidy, correct and improve. MRM 16:02, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
Although I added HS2 as a second post code for Lewis, the function does not seem to work. I suggest leaving it in place meantime as the template is still under construction. MRM 11:33, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
The photos on this page look great, but's its a shame that they seem to suggest that the island is uninhabited/stuck in a time warp where the 19th century has yet to arrive. Could anyone add a few photos to show 'modern' life exists on Lewis?-- JBellis 18:49, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
Due to the persistent vandalism of this article by (presumably) children determined to say that someone they know of the name "Lewis" may be different to themselves, or their soul-mates, I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile seeing whether this article could be protected so that only signed-in people can edit it? Any opinions? MRM 20:54, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Isle of Lewis/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.
Comment(s) | Press [show] to view → |
---|---|
Lead para needs work per WP:MOS to include a brief, cited reference to each of the main sections.
The Topography section could be improved by adding a little more Geology - although an alternative would be for Lewis and Harris to cover this subject with a note to this effect here. In general the article is poorly sourced and could do with input from well-known authors who cover the subject e.g. Murray, Haswell-Smith, Fraser Darling. Religion could be expanded with a little historical information to explain why it is important. Nature - odd to begin with reptiles when there is so little to say. Move to its own section at the end. References should come after the full stop, not before. Capitals are not used consistently for species names. I don't know why, but GA candidates should not sport Galleries. There is lots of good information here and clearly the article could acheive GA with a little effort, essentially with improvements to the style of presentation rather than the need for a great deal of new content. Ben MacDui (Talk) 13:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC) |
Last edited at 13:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 20:42, 3 May 2016 (UTC)