Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2013 October 6

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October 6

Has there been a German term "Judendot"?

According to the respective article, German speaking Jew "Max Nordau saw Muscular Judaism as an answer to Judendot (Jewish distress)" in 1898. Juden are the Jews, but dot is not a word in modern German. While it might be a spelling for Tod/tot ("death/dead") in older texts or dialect literature, this definitely wasn't the case in New High German around 1900, and would not be translated as "distress". Does anybody know where the term might come from? Is this possibly a typo? (As the source given How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization is not directly on the topic, this appears possible.) --KnightMove (talk) 12:17, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

I suspect it's a misreading of Judennot and offer confirmation here. Not is literally "distress". --Wrongfilter (talk) 12:29, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

I thought 'not' means 'need', as in 'to be in need'. This logic is based on the Afrikaans/Dutch word 'nootgeval', which is translated as 'emergency', but literally translated as 'need-befall'. Plasmic Physics (talk) 13:06, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

The word has more than one meaning depending on its usage. It can be "in need" but it can also mean "in distress". "Judennot" seems to be the correct answer as googling the term does bring up some hits, especially older German book titles, containing the word. --Saddhiyama (talk) 13:17, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

(EC) Not is probably cognate with "need", but usually describes a rather severe situation, sudden or prolonged. Seenot is a maritime emergency, Notfallambulanz is an emergency room, Hungersnot is a famine. --Wrongfilter (talk) 13:23, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Right in general. In particular, emergency room is "Notaufnahme". "Notfallambulanz" is not wrong, but it's not a word I have encountered often, and would usually be understood as "(emergency) ambulance". Maybe it's more in use in Austria or Switzerland. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:42, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Hungersnot means famine, eh? That brings up quite the wrong mental images. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:03, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

The term Judennot (Jewish misery) was defined (and presumably coined) in Nordau's speech on 29 August 1897 (cf. German text and English translation). --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 08:32, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Writers who are Ismaili nizari and Canadian and write about Ismaili Nizaris in East Africa

Is M.G. Vassanji the only writer in Canada who is an Ismaili Nizari and writes about Ismaili Nizaris in East Africa? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.89.41.68 (talk) 18:35, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

You're asking quite a few very specific questions that call for an expertise in a subject that it's unlikely reference desk volunteers are knowledgeable about. I recommend you post your questions on the Talk Page of Nizari. You might also look at see who has contributed a fair amount of research to that article and contact the Editor directly on their User Talk Page. They might be able to point you to reference materials you can use to find your answers. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 02:01, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

User:Donmust90 would be the most likely to know the answer. μηδείς (talk) 02:04, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Also you may wish to clarify "writer" to a wikipedian (edit per Liz) that would be in the know about the subject matter, the US Congress recently changed some provisions in law concerning "journalists" because of the advent of Twitter, Blogging, Youtube, the technology available to anyone to "write" home published and e-books. There could be a very extreme argument made that wikipedians are "writers" in certain senses of the word, if you choose not to print off the site sponsored "wikibooks" there are dozens of other "publishers" churning out our contributions here, the tangible difference between that & say a Stephen King or Robert Novak is diminishing by the day. I have no knowledge of this genre but if you were to draw the line at blogs or e-books then an editor (or a google search) may turn up additional answers. ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 10:50, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way}, I don't see how your comment helps the user to find answers to their questions about the Nizari. Can you make your point a bit clearer? Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 18:21, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Sure, I tried to be clear but if not this is straight to the source. BTW, using my 'avatar' might also be confusing (tho any text combo is fine). ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 18:36, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Ismaili nizari surnames

Is there a website that shows surnames commonly used by Ismaili Nizaris? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.89.41.68 (talk) 18:39, 6 October 2013 (UTC)