Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2008 August 29

= August 29 =

Barack Hussein Obama's Name
Does anyone know what is Barack Hussein Obama's name mean in English? 72.136.110.93 (talk) 04:12, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Barack means "blessed", and Hussein means "good" or "handsome". Zagalejo^^^ 04:15, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * (edit conflict) The original spelling of Barack was likely "barak", which is an Arabic word meaning "blessing". Hussein is probably from Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, and Obama, being a last name, doesn't really have any meaning that I can turn up.
 * By the way, if you intend this to make some statement about Barack Obama, I highly doubt that his names have any special meaning. My name is Allison, which I'm told means "truthful" or "noble", but that doesn't mean I am either truthful or noble! Name translations found through this site. --Alinnisawest,Dalek Empress (extermination requests here ) 04:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, unless he changed the name he was given at birth, it would perhaps indicate what one or both parents chose for him. -- Deborahjay (talk) 13:24, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * My name means either Spear of the Gods or (depending on who you ask) Lover of Deer. I hate deer. 90.235.4.27 (talk) 13:55, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Fact still remains that his parents likely hadn't the faintest clue what his names meant when he was born. Did your parents carefully scrutinize the meanings of your name before they named you? I doubt it; most people do not. I also read that his middle name is Hussein after his grandfather. --Alinnisawest,Dalek Empress (extermination requests here ) 16:08, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Mine certainly scrutinized the meaning. Like mine, his parents were educated and curious people; do you think a woman named Stanley would not have considered the impact and meaning of a given name? --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 16:36, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Is that really the point? Most parents don't look up what their children's names mean before they name them- at least, most parents I know. They choose names that sound good and that they like, not names that mean something significant, usually. So whether or not Barack Obama's parents knew what "Barack" meant before they named him we don't know, just that probably, like most parents, they chose the name because they liked it. If you want to get technical, John Sidney McCain's name means "God is gracious" and "wide island". But again, I highly doubt that means much of anything. --Alinnisawest,Dalek Empress (extermination requests here ) 17:38, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * And the original question didn't imply it did mean much of anything; you kinda brought that up yourself: By the way, if you intend this to make some statement about Barack Obama, I highly doubt that his names have any special meaning. --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 17:59, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Barack Obama being the offspring of a biracial, bicultural couple who met as students, it's all the more likely that his parent/s gave consideration to the choice of names, despite Alinnisawest claiming "Fact [sic] still remains..." and "...at least, most parents I know." -- Deborahjay (talk) 19:15, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

(unindent) *spreads hands* OK, OK, OK, calm down! No need to attack me! --Alinnisawest,Dalek Empress (extermination requests here ) 19:25, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * And being Wikipedia, we have articles on Barack (given name) and Hussein. Nanonic (talk) 04:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * And on his father, whose name just happens to have been Barack Hussein Obama -- enough said about why they chose that name? --Anonymous, 19:22 UTC, August 29, 2008.


 * What does "Obama" means? Is the name, Obama derived from a tribal name? 72.136.110.93 (talk) 03:28, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
 * shrug* Very likely. I did a Google, and either it's an African name that some Muslims picked up, or an Arabic name that Muslims carried into Africa, most likely the latter. It probably originally had some meaning (like the family name Johnson originally meant (literally) "John's son"), but not really any more. --Alinnisawest,Dalek Empress ( extermination requests here ) 03:55, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
 * "Tribal?" You mean like, say, Levy?  — OtherDave (talk) 18:46, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

GPL and Works of the Federal Government
Here's a goofy question I just thought up.

Let's say I work for the United States federal government as a programmer, and everything I make is a work of the federal government and thus cannot be copyrighted.

Can I include code licensed under the GPL in my own official work?

(This is a hypothetical scenario, not a request for legal advice.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 12:23, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * It is unlikely that you can license the work you produced under paid-employment in any way other than how the employer - who ultimately is the owner of the code - decides. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 12:58, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Please, please, take the time to read and understand the question before answering. Click the links if you need to. Work of the federal government is a special copyright category, ergo the link. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:36, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Conveniently, the FSF answers this question. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:12, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Ha, interesting, thanks. That's what I suspected. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:36, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * This has actually happened in the case of the NSA-created selinux. --Sean 13:47, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Sources on the social history of England in the high middle ages
It is a shame that Clio is no longer with us, but I am hoping that one of my other esteemed colleagues can point me to recent social histories of England in the high middle ages. I am planning a tour of Great Britain and will be visiting several of the great English cathedrals and cathedral cities, and I would like some insight into the society and economy that produced those great cathedrals in the 12th, 13th, and early 14th centuries. Wikipedia has little beyond the dynastic history. What are the most highly regarded recent social (and economic) histories? Thank you. Marco polo (talk) 13:43, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * There are many respected tomes. Some promising titles (used by universities) are "English Society in the Later Middle Ages, 1348-1500" by Maurice Keen, "The High Middle Ages in England" by Bertie Wilkinson, and "An Economic History of Medieval Europe" by Norman Pounds. Fribbler (talk) 15:41, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * It is a great shame. Anyway, see also Scholasticism, Medieval art, Gothic architecture, Medieval literature, Medieval music, Science in the Middle Ages, Medieval technology, Medieval medicine, Crusades, Christian monasticism, Order of Saint Benedict, Dominican Order, Augustinians, Franciscan, Cistercians... Strawless (talk) 16:57, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * This topic is pretty vast and there are loads of academic and popular works. I'm not too up-to-date on it, but I think we have some medieval England/Britain specialists around; try User:Angusmclellan or User:Deacon of Pndapetzim, I think they work on this general area. Or scour the list at WikiProject Middle Ages. Adam Bishop (talk) 23:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I enjoyed Christopher Dyer's Making a Living in the Middle Ages and I think it would be a good place to start. It's published by Penguin and aimed at a non-specialist audience although it's not in any way dumbed-down. You'll find reviews on the web, such as this on eh.net plus the usual amazon.com and amazon.co.uk stuff. It covers Britain rather than just England, but most of the coverage is inevitably of England and part two, the meat of the book, deals with the period 1100–1350. As Adam says, you could ask the Deacon as this is more his line. Angus McLellan (Talk) 22:37, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Friendships
Why is it that, for young people, some of their best friends are friends they have met at summer camps as opposed to those at schools, youth clubs, in the local community etc. Clover345 (talk) 21:25, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * This sounds like a chat-room query, not one for an encyclopedia. ៛ Bielle (talk) 22:47, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Additionally, I think Clover345's assertion is kind of unfounded. I think some kind of proof of this phenomenon would be required first... -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:03, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I gathered it from various articles I read. Additionally, I am not asking for a chat room style debate.  I am asking for a social science answer on the humanities (social sciences) reference desk.  If there is no answer in terms of social science, then thats all I wanted to know. Clover345 (talk) 23:10, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * At summer camps you are forced together with strangers and pretty much have to make friends. At school, etc., you can easily ignore other people if you want to and end up needing a reason to spend time with someone. That may affect the kinds of friendships people make. However, I expect it is far more common to be friends with people you meet through school, etc, and it's because being best friends with someone from summer camp is unusual that it gets talked about more. --Tango (talk) 23:24, 29 August 2008 (UTC)