Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 September 13

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September 13 edit

Oldest surviving mummies of a pharaoh edit

Who is the oldest Egyptian pharaoh whose mummies/remains survive to present day?--KAVEBEAR (talk) 05:35, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The remains of Menkaure (fl. c. 2550 BCE) are preserved in the British Museum. This site claims that the remains of Djoser (fl. c. 2670 BCE) are preserved in the Qasr Al-Eini Museum, but I haven't been able to substantiate this. Tevildo (talk) 08:17, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Our article Menkaure says that the "bone fragments" dated to much later. Is this referring to the "partial skeleton" mentioned earlier in the paragraph? Does this mean the mummy at the British Museum is probably not that of the pharaoh? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 17:44, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Many of the first-dynasty pharaonic tombs were uncovered complete with human remains, and date from 2900 to 3100 BC. I can find no mention of mummies from these tombs, and indeed they predate proper Egyptian mummification practices having become routine. Nonetheless, I cannot find any information on whether any of these Pharaohs' skeletons were properly identified. Someguy1221 (talk) 00:24, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Is <b> really pronounced [r] in Icelandic? edit

See Vínbúð and wikt:búð#Icelandic. Apokrif (talk) 16:28, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

We have an article on Icelandic orthography and which says that "b" stands for the [pj] sound. --Jayron32 16:54, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Did Hitler say it? edit

The Jews have inflicted two wounds on mankind—circumcision on its body, and conscience on its soul.

Quoted without citation in lots of places, but I can't seem to find a primary source. I was surprised not to find it on Wikiquote, actually, as it's a supposed quotation that comes up quite regularly in Jewish circles. Any thoughts? Evan (talk|contribs) 23:04, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What he reportedly said, according to Hermann Rauschning in Gespräche mit Hitler (published in English as Hitler Speaks, but it's more likely that Rauschning spoke, see linked articles) is:

"Die Tafeln vom Sinai haben ihre Gültigkeit verloren. Das Gewissen ist eine jüdische Erfindung. Es ist wie die Beschneidung eine Verstümmelung des menschlichen Wesens..."

Quoted translations I found are

"The tablets of Mount Sinai have lost their validity. Conscience is a Jewish invention. Like circumcision it mutilates man..."

or

"The Ten Commandments have lost their validity. Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish, like circumcision..."

(And before anybody else goes through the task of searching for anything related in Mein Kampf, I actually did that, both in the German original and in Murphy's English translation, and there's nothing there (except me looking at every single instance of "Gewissen" etc. ) ---Sluzzelin talk 23:48, 13 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It seems the OP unsupported/fake quote is actually rather similar in spirit, but shorter and more quotable. Thanks for the nice reference work! SemanticMantis (talk) 00:17, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
You would think a statement that "The Ten Commandments have lost their validity" would have lost Hitler support from Christians, who also believe in those, and especially Italians, who are very Catholic. StuRat (talk) 01:36, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds more like something Hillary would say (or perhaps it was Trump... I always get those two confused... Take your pick... Whatever) Blueboar (talk) 03:35, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Trump is the porky one. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:31, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
so that makes Clinton the daffy one? Blueboar (talk) 10:14, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Or given her recent illness, she could be bugsy. And they're booth tweety. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:18, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
For Donald J. Trump I would go with Foghorn J. Leghorn, both of whom are tall, share a middle initial, and were even created in the same year (1946). As to any similarities in personality, I couldn't possibly comment. StuRat (talk) 01:48, 15 September 2016 (UTC) [reply]
Excellent work, Sluzzelin. Much appreciated! Evan (talk|contribs) 22:06, 18 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]