[Buddha-l] Nirvana si, bodhi no! [was: liturgical languages]

[r.g.morrison]

Robert:
: > But he fails to mention that the Klu Klux Klan was also founded by Scots
: > (the 'religious nut' kind)!

Richard:
: I had no idea that the Ku Klux Klan was a Scottish invention. Perhaps
: the spelling should have given me a klue. Over here we spell 'clan' with
: a 'c'. I had always assumed the 'k' shewed that the KKK was of German
: provenience.

All my dictionary says is that the origin is perhaps from the Greek 
'Kuklos', 'circle', plus Klan, an alternatative to 'clan' (there's no German 
'Klan').  But apparently the KKK (founded by some Federate officers) got its 
kick-start from the novel, 'The Clansman: an historical romance of the Ku 
Klux Klan', written in 1905 by one Baptist clergyman called Thomas Dixon, 
whose uncle was one of the original group.  It refers to the KKK being 'led 
by the reincarnated sons of the Clansmen of Old Scotland', so it seems they 
believed in rebirth!  This is where the symbol of the 'Fiery Cross' comes 
from, it being a translation of the Gaelic 'crann tara', which was the 
signal for the clans to gather.  One irony is that the KKK became very 
interested in their supposed Celtic roots, and some came to identify 
themselves with the Scottish Jacobites, who were of coarse staunch 
Catholics - the Catholics being, along with blacks and Jews, the arch enemy 
of the pure Presbyterian KKK!  Anyway, this makes a change from reading that 
other clansman, Vasubandhu!

: Speaking of changing spellings of names (Home to Hume), an old family
: legend had it that the first American Hayes in my ancestry came to
: America a couple of generations before the American revolution. The
: story was that he was a certain John Hays from somewhere near Edinburgh
: and that he changed the spelling to Hayes when he arrived in Dover, New
: Hampshire to diminish the amount of prejudice he might face from English
: settlers. I especially loved that story, because I hated the idea that I
: was descended from English stock. Being Scottish was ever so much more
: romantic. (But that's because I thought Scotland was in Africa, right
: next to India. See previous message on my American education.) Alas,
: later genealogical research revealed that John Hayes came to New
: Hampshire from the Barbados, to which he had moved from somewhere in the
: southwest of England, so I lost my claims to being Scottish. I have
: hated accurate research ever since. It spoils too many good stories.

'Hays' can be Irish, being a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAodha 
'descendant of Aodh', a personal name meaning 'fire'. But it can also have 
its origin in Wexford, a county in England not far from Hampshire, and was 
taken to Ireland by the Normans (who stuffed everyone). One of the origins 
of 'Morrison' is an Anglicized form of the Scots Gaelic 'MacGhille Mhoire', 
which translates as 'Son of the Virgin Mary's Servant' - so I think I'll 
give that one a miss!

: I love to think that if only the British had fought harder to keep
: America, we might have become civilized over here. And, thanks to the
: connections with India and Burma, we might have become a Buddhist
: country in which it's not becoming illegal to teach evolution.

I must admit that from over this side of the pond it seems unbelievable that 
a civilized country can head in that direction.  Perhaps Margret Atwood's 
'The Handmaid's Tale' might come true after all!

Robert Morrison