Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2019 October 12

= October 12 =

The famous opera singer Sibyl Knight
Various biographical sketches and articles about the prog rock vocalist Annie Haslam mention that Haslam at one time studied voice under the famous opera singer Sibyl Knight (that would have been in the late 1960s). However, all my web searching about Sibyl Knight find either non-singers of the same name, or else mentioning her in the context of Annie Haslam studying with her. It seems like Annie Haslam's fame has eclipsed Sibyl Knight's.

So who was the famous opera singer Sibyl Knight? Are there particular roles etc. that she was known for? Any suggestions about finding more info? Thanks.

67.164.113.165 (talk) 08:24, 12 October 2019 (UTC)


 * The only thing I found, and you hadn't mentioned yet, is that the singing teacher Harold Miller (no article, but he had also instructed Shirley Bassey and Julie Andrews) was the one who had recommended Sybil Knight to Haslam. She had first wanted to take lessons from Miller, who said: "'I wish I could teach you, but I only teach in the daytime.' But he said, 'I have a lady called Sybil Knight and she’s an opera singer and she teaches in the West End.'" (From an interview with Pop Culture Classics). Combined searches of "Harold Miller" and "Sybil Knight" only yielded more bits and pieces on Haslam. ---Sluzzelin talk  19:11, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I had heard the Harold Miller story but hadn't seen the Pop Culture Classics interview, which is wonderful.  67.164.113.165 (talk) 00:41, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

When did the Arabic language come to Iraq and started to be spoken as the main language?
When did the Arabic language come to Iraq and started to be spoken as the main language? As I read, the main language in the past was Aramaic. But I don't remember when the Arabic push out the Aramaic. I found this article on Wikipedia which mentions what I said about the Aramaic but ignores the time when Arabic became the dominant language.93.126.116.89 (talk) 10:06, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
 * The issue is that the region now called "Iraq" was called other names in the past. Any time you see super-straight lines in borders, it's because Europe was slicing a region up for themselves like pie.
 * Most of what is now Iraq used to be part of the broader Persian Empire. When the Rashidun Caliphate started conquering the Persian empire, they took over what is now Iraq first.  The shift from Aramaic to Arabic would not have been overnight, however.  You really can't say "this is when people stopped speaking Aramaic and started speaking Arabic.  Instead, Persia took centuries to become majority Muslim, and even after it did, many Persians (including non-Arab Muslims) rejected Arabization -- and that was in a major cultural center.  Now, granted, that's mostly in modern Iran, not modern Iraq, which the Persians kinda viewed as the boonies?  That changed with the Abbasid Caliphate moving the capital to Baghdad, though.  However, the region was culturally diverse, with plenty of people speaking Armenian, Syriac, Turkish, and various Kurdish dialects well into the late 20th century.  So that makes it a matter of "what do you mean dominant?"  If you mean the language that the government speaks, then yeah, when the Abbasids moved to Baghdad is a pretty good date.  Ian.thomson (talk) 10:40, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Great explanation. Thank you! 93.126.116.89 (talk) 15:12, 12 October 2019 (UTC)


 * Also, the ground was prepared for the spread of the Arabic language as the new lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent zone by the fact that the related Aramaic language had been the old lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent zone. The process took several centuries, and there are still a few remnant areas of Aramaic speakers, but Arabic seems to have replaced Aramaic fairly smoothly in the most densely populated and economically important areas... AnonMoos (talk) 17:14, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

When did Paris first get electric lights?
Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:38, 12 October 2019 (UTC)


 * If you mean street lights: "On 30 May 1878, the first electric street lights in Paris were installed on the avenue de l'Opera and the Place d'Etoile, around the Arc de Triomphe, to celebrate the opening of the Paris Universal Exposition. In 1881, to coincide with the Paris International Exposition of Electricity, street lights were installed on the major boulevards." (from Street_light, sourced). ---Sluzzelin talk  18:45, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Julian (emperor) reference problem (done)
Does anybody around have an idea how to fix this reference on Roman emperor Julian? (Thanks in advance for any assistance.)--Hildeoc (talk) 19:51, 12 October 2019 (UTC)


 * There wasn't enough of a ref to even figure out what they were going for, so I deleted it. There is another ref there, anyway. SinisterLefty (talk) 21:52, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Fixed. Just look through revision history if that happens again. Removing sources is not advised. The remaining source may not cite the existing collection of facts.KAVEBEAR (talk) 00:00, 13 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Thank you both very, very much for fixing that! All the best--Hildeoc (talk) 19:23, 13 October 2019 (UTC)