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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Balbus #118981 01/06/2004 11:18 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 Mencken in discussing UK education mentions as a bit of trivia that every UK school kid is presumed to know,"Balbus built a wall". I have yet to find a word about Balbus' wall. I did find a fairly detailed biography of him at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/6311/bal_bio.html Interesting to me, the bio said it is believed that his name came from a root meaning "stammerer", probably applied to one of his ancestors. That interested me, as "balbutier" is French verb meaning to stammer. I have yet to find a single word about his wall, though. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Balbus #118982 01/07/2004 8:27 AM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta Bingley Carpal Tunnel Bingley Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta Well, this is the best I've been able to come up with, Dr. Bill: A pome by Mariott Edgar: http://www.oldpoetry.com/poetry/14024. And one by W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan: http://www.bookrags.com/books/3babb/PART13.htm Bingley Bingley Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Balbus #118983 01/07/2004 1:45 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 Shame on Gilbert. Balbus was not mythical. And Mencken seems to err in alleging every school kid knew "Balbus built a wall". Hadrian's Wall, and Offa's Dyke, quite possibly. Maybe Mencken got it from G&S. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Balbus #118984 01/08/2004 6:04 AM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta Bingley Carpal Tunnel Bingley Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta Perhaps the Balbus famous for building a wall was a different one from the Balbus you linked to. Bingley Bingley Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Balbus #118985 01/08/2004 5:09 PM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK dxb Pooh-Bah dxb Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK Lucius Cornelius Balbus was Julius Caesar's chief engineer for a time, so he could well have had a wall - somewhere. He had a nephew of the same name who also achieved some fame but was not involved with engineering - though he did have a theatre built in Rome. This thread took me back to dreary Latin lessons with flies droning around sleepy hot rooms. "Balbus listened to the sweet voices of the girls singing" and all that. We had an atrocious Latin master and a highly effective French mistress (now, now, no sniggering at the back there). Probably accounted for my exam results being what they were! Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Balbus #118986 01/09/2004 6:13 PM Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California jheem veteran jheem veteran Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California My favorite Balbus is Notker Balbus. Did he build a wal in St Gall(en)? He wrote music : http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Blair/Courses/MUSL242/notker.htm Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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