I'm back!!! I hope no one has been posing as me for the duration of my abscence from this board. I just moved to an actual house, and have been in the process of unpacking and organizing, along with school and work, so it's safe to say that I've been rather busy.
Let's see, Romanian.... Romanian sounds very distant, and I believe Tiffany summed it up best when she stated the now infamous phrase, "Romanian sounds like Latin and Slavic had a baby". At times, Romanian sounds like a strange Italian dialect, while other times I hear it, I hear a lot of Slavic phonological influence.
Brennus,
On the subject of Romanian people's origin, this is tough to say. One can usually surmise the origin by way of genetic testing, or as many laymen do, by simply observing the manifestations of their genetic ancestry in the form of their phenotype. I have never been to Romania, and I honestly can't say I have been exposed to much media coverage on Romania, so I don't really know what they look like, other than what I've seen from a couple of movies. Some typical things to consider when investigating a people's origin are physical traits like average height, degree of darkness to hair and eyes, facial features, etc. If most Romanians were of short to medium stature, and generally had brown to black hair, and dark eyes, then I would guess that their origins are primarily of mediterranean stock, which would have been introduced by Roman settlers. If most Romanians are tall, and have Slavic facial features, I would assume that they possess a significant Slavic contribution. Or, they can look like a mix of all three.
Now, if you could help me, I'm doing a research report on changes in average height around the world. Traditionally, and all throughout history, people in Asia and southern Europe were several inches shorter than Northern Europeans. There are myriads of Roman accounts, Arab/Persian accounts, and east Asian accounts of the gigantic stature of northern Europeans. Roman soldiers from the mediterranean world were an average height of 5'4, while skeletal remains of Germanic warriors show that they averaged 5'10 during the same period. In Northern Europe, height steadily decreased with the onset of urbanization after 1000 A.D., due to overcrowded populations, outbreaks of disease, and shortage of food. This could be an explanation for the short stature of Romans (including Spaniards, Syrians, Greeks, Italians, etc) in the Roman imperial period, but it is not likely. In classical times, the level of civilization was higher than it was in the middle ages. Roman cities were one of cleanliness, (baths, everyone bathed) indoor plumbing, etc, and much wealth. Romans enjoyed a very high standard of living at that time when compared to other parts of the world. There was public sanitation, clean water, and most people bathed on a daily basis. These circumstances do not encourage the spread of disease, nor did they create widespread food shortages, as was the case in the middle ages, where public sanitation did not exist, people did not bathe or clean their clothes, there was not access to clean drinking water, the standard of living was low, and there was thus a shortage of food for most people, etc. Further proof lies in the stature of well-to-do Romans. Even Julius Caesar was considered very tall at 5'6, and he was a noble. Most Roman Emperors were no taller than 5'6, and their living and enviromental conditions could not have been any better. The Allemani mocked Emperor Julian on his Rhine campaign, and called him the "Little Greek". When a chieftan of that tribe was brought before him, he was reportedly "two heads taller". In more modern times, Asians and southern Europeans were still generally several inches shorter than Northern Europeans. Within the last few generations, Asians and southern Europeans have nearly caught up to Northern Europeans in height, despite being far shorter for all of history. Most people attribute this to changes in diet, like growth hormone injected animal protein and the like. But if this produced such a tremendous change in height amongst these people, then the same should apply to Northern Europeans, and the height differential would thus remain unchanged, with the NEs being 4-6 inches taller than southern Europeans and well developed Asian countries like Japan. Most statistics indicate that average height in traditionally short countries like Italy and Spain for men is 5'9 or 5'10, which is only about an inch or two shorter than northern countries like Germany and Denmark. Are these statistics wrong? I need to know for a school report so it is important to me. I have heard from others who have travelled in Italy and other southern countries, like one woman for instance. She is a squat 5'3 at the most, and she claims that most Italian men are at her eye level, virtually the same height. Official statistics that I come across say that Italian men are 5'9, almost the same as American men. If you have been to Europe, and to countries like Italy, Spain, and France, how tall would you say the average man was in these countries? I would really like to know what somebody knows who has actually been there and walked among the people. Anyone else for that matter who has been to these places who wishes to contribute, I would greatly appreciate it.
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