The Amtsgericht (local court of first instance) in Naumburg has passed the first sentences in the case of the stolen Sky Disc of Nebra.
The two treasure hunters who dug up the disc, inexpertly, causing severe damage to one side, were given sentence suspended on probation. One of them was sentence to four months’ imprisonment on probation for embezzlement and has to do 250 hours community service. The other was sentenced to nine months on probation for handling stolen goods, and a fine of 2000 euros.

bq. Einer der Angeklagten wurde wegen Unterschlagung zu vier Monaten auf Bewährung verurteilt. Außerdem muss er 250 Stunden gemeinnützige Arbeit leisten. Sein Komplize wurde wegen Hehlerei zu neun Monaten auf Bewährung verurteilt. Er muss zudem eine Geldstrafe in Höhe von 2000 Euro zahlen. Gegen einen weiteren Mann und eine Frau wird noch verhandelt.

The recent confession made by both was a mitigating circumstance, and it was important to the archaeologists that the men confessed, because the were then able to answer questions about where and in what condition they found the disc. However, they then sold it for about 32,000 euros. They knew the disc was valuable, but not how important it was – one of them thought it was a bucket lid.

The disc is about 3600 years old and is the oldest precise depicture of the stars. It was found in 1999. See earlier entry.

Yesterday, the Guardian had an article by Ben Aris entitled War of Words about the growth of Denglish in Germany and the complaints about it.

bq. Fed up with the language of Goethe being corrupted with additions such as “die kiddies” and “der call centre”, Germany’s politicians are proposing to ban civil servants from using “Denglish” – German mixed with English – in the workplace.

I’m not sure exactly who is behind this proposal. It seems to refer to the same story as an Ananova report of September 2nd.

The Word Spy defines Denglish. The Verein Deutsche Sprache (German) has carried out tests in various industries and for example has a table of office furniture manufacturers and their slogans in descending order of loyalty to German.

I picked this Guardian article up last night, but I have since seen it’s been blogged by PapaScott (an American in Hamburg) and others.

According to a Reuters report:

bq. A pirate version of the latest Harry Potter blockbuster has hit the streets of Venezuela but the illegal book lacks the magic of the original and the translator apologizes on virtually every page.

He makes remarks like, ‘I didn’t really understand this, so I paraphrased’. The authorized translation into Spanish is not due for several months. (Thanks, Derek!)

Inter alia links to a page on the Top Ten Best Court Website Awards. Nine sites are U.S., one is in Singapore.

I was linked recently by a site called Wordlab, which has a number of programs to invent brand names and other names. It describes itself as ‘Free naming and branding resources’.
The masters of this site hide behind somewhat whimsical names themselves and described me as a schwarzenblawger. I was going to tell them I am Caucasian and don’t know Arnie, but I discovered this was just a combination of wordplay and unfamiliarity with the word blawg (= law blog).

As far as I can tell, the naming tools don’t allow user input, so naming is more of a game – but free. There is a board, on which for example someone wants suggestions for a name for a Punjabi Indian takeaway – among suggestions are the following: Papa Dom’s, The Ideal Naan, Golly Ghee, Tandoor Loving Care, My Bonnie Lassi, and Aloo To You. There are various other resources and excellent links. Obviously there are related paid services – for example, there is a link to Igor Naming and Branding Consultants, ‘co-founded by Wordlab’s very own Snark’.

Another link is to Nametrade, which has useful information on how to create names, such as a list of naming techniques.

Via this, the buzzkiller. net site shows ‘corporate PR speak’. Under Tabla Razza, for instance, there is a table showing Buzzword or phrase (e.g. zero-footprint), As In (We’re a zero-footprint company), What They’re Trying to Say (Our company rents space from a data center), and What They’re Really Saying (We’ve just discovered a cool new term to use when we admit that we can’t really afford to rent our own office.) There’s also a Hall of Shame and an (occasional) blog.

Geoffrey Nunberg’s site was also new to me, although I recognize a number of links. I knew his name and that he was a professor of linguistics – I see he has written a number of pieces on language and law, which I shall probably come back to.

I want one of these hats for Fasching/carnival. Mind you, there isn’t much tolerance here for unusual costumes.

In 1996, an art dealer phoned the director of the Berlin museum of archaeology and early history and offered him an object for 1.5 million DM. The photo showed something the museum eventually decided to buy, when they discovered it wasn’t a fake: the fourth golden cone or hat ever to be unearthed: Bronze age artifacts had been found in Avanton, Schifferstadt and Ezelsdorf. The site where the fourth hat was found is unknown – see the earlier entry on treasure trove law in Germany.

Since the 1996 discovery, it’s been possible to interpret these cones as the hats of some kind of priest or wizard, and the symbols on them relate to the sun cult. The hats are all of paper-thin gold and originally had brims. The exhibition at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg unfortunately finished yesterday, so this link may not remain: it has pictures of all four cones.

And here is an article in German about them, and an English-language press release from the museum.

The exhibition was in a darkened room with a spiral path leading onwards and upwards to the four cones. There was a video showing reconstructions of Bronze Age life, and bizarre improvisions on the lur (German Lure), a mysterious Bronze Age horn-like instrument played by one Joachim Schween, a musical archaeologist who appropriately lives in Hameln (Hamelin). An excellent exhibition.

Picture of the lure and small audio clip of fruitier tones than Professor Schween produced.
Bronze Age links
Phluzein, an archaeology blog that doesn’t even touch on this subject but looks interesting.