Bernard Mees
Biographic Data
| ID | 365315 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bernard Mees |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bernard |
| FAMILY NAME | Mees |
| SIGNATURE | MEES B |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5710-2540 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The etymology of Britain
Phonologically unexpected loanwords in Latin include petoritum , Galli , gladius and Britanni , all of which have been proposed to be Celtic coinages. Yet the alternation represented by Britanni 'Britons' and Old Irish Cruithne 'Picts', also apparent in the toponymic forms Πρετταvικη and Britannia , does not have an obvious Latin or intra-Celtic motivation. It would make sense if the term has a non-Celtic Indo-European origin, however, and if it …
The Dyce inscription and the morphosyntax of Pictish
The Pictish inscription from Dyce, Aberdeen, preserves a name Rogoddadd that appears to be the patronymic of the person commemorated by the monument, a class-II Pictish symbol stone held in the former parish kirk of St Fergus. The Dyce inscription evidently also preserves the name of the person who commissioned the stone, and the syntax of the inscription is comparable to those attested in other Pictish memorials written in ogham. These include t…
Boiian Celtic and Germanic
Nehalennia and the Marsaci
The goddess Nehalennia is known principally from two sanctuaries in Zeeland that have been dated to the late second and early third centuries. Variously explained as a Celtic or Germanic theonym, Nehalennia may best be understood in terms of the evidence of other names associated with Roman Zeeland. The Nehalennia sanctuaries are both situated in an area that seems likely to have fallen within the Roman civitas named for the Belgic Menapi, but th…
Early epigraphic evidence for Germanic weak class-III verbs
The names Lubainis and Vanaenia recorded in inscriptions from Namur have long been proposed to preserve evidence that supports the reconstruction of the stem of the Germanic weak class-III verbs as originally featuring a diphthong *- ai- . Cognates of the Gothic weak class-III verb weihan ›to consecrate‹ have similarly been widely held to be preserved in two inscriptions rescued over a century ago from the Danish votive bogs. The attested forms w…
The inscription on the Vimose plane and (other) West Germanic finds from Denmark
The Vimose plane features an early runic inscription that has long remained opaque, with none of the attempts to explain it having commanded assent in the historiography. Like the inscription on the Vimose buckle, however, the text on the wood plane appears to preserve an early example of West Germanic religious language. The inscription on the sharpener shows some parallels with comparable Roman texts but also distinctively West Germanic phonolo…
Batavian Pero and Germanic *perō ‘pear’
The Batavian name Pero is best understood as a derivative of Germanic *perō ‘pear’. Names that also feature the root per - are recorded from other parts of the Roman Empire in connection with Germanic speakers and seem to reflect the influence of pear growing in the Roman provinces. This influence was so great that the name of the p -rune also appears to have been derived from *perō ‘pear’. The early Germanic names Pero, Uxperus and Gamuxperus se…
The Early Jutish Bracteate Texts From Skonager And Darum
Several of the bracteates recovered in the nineteenth century from hoards discovered at Skonager and Darum in Jutland feature runic inscriptions that appear to record West Germanic linguistic developments. Most of the inscriptions from Iron Age Denmark seem to record language that is directly ancestral to Danish, but two of the bracteates from Skonager and Darum feature inscriptions that have long been thought to attest West Germanic names. A thi…
Left Branch Extraction and Clitic Placement in Gaulish
The inscriptional remains of Gaulish preserve syntactic behaviours that are not expected from the perspective of the diachronic schemes usually posited for the development of early Insular Celtic syntax from Proto-Indo-European. Widespread evidence is attested, particularly for the behaviour of clitics, that does not seem reconcilable with many of the assumptions made in previous studies regarding the nature of the syntax of Proto-Celtic. Gaulish…
The Charismatic Organization
British Telecom’s 1984 partial privatization set in motion the privatization and deregulation of many international state-owned telecommunications carriers. Most previous research on the privatization and deregulation of state-owned telecommunications carriers has focused on the economic outcomes. However, this was also a time of changes in managerial practice and thinking influenced by organizational theory. This article presents an analysis of …
Sievers’ Law and the Skåäng Stone
Early runic inscriptions are the best evidence for the oldest historical development of North Germanic. Yet among the many unexpected features of the inscriptions as they are usually presented is the apparent presence of vowels before glides that seem to occur contrary to Sievers’ Law. These include perhaps most prominently the sequence usually read as on the Skåäng stone where the Vimose comb preserves the expected form . Rather than assume that…
Early Germanic *hanha- ‘horse’ and *hanhistaz / *hangistaz ‘stallion’
Difficult etymologies in Germanic include that of * hanha - ‘horse’ and * hanhistaz / *hangistaz ‘stallion’. Reflections of the latter term are widely evidenced in the Old Germanic dialects while the former is attested onomastically on a late-fourth-century memorial from Burgundy and has also been claimed to be reflected in early runic epigraphy. Both terms appear to continue a remorphologised s -stem * hanhaz ~ *hangisō and have clear Celtic cou…
Industry Superannuation Funds
At the time of the founding of the industry superannuation funds, the Australian retirement-savings market was dominated by insurance mutuals. In the early 1980s, less than half the workforce was covered by occupational superannuation and unions saw the insurance mutuals, created in the nineteenth century, as part of the problem in this widespread market failure. When establishing industry-wide schemes, union leaders largely eschewed the language…
The Vimose Dedication as Ritual Language
The inscription on the Vimose buckle has been the subject of a long and diverse historiography. Taken in the light of early runic epigraphic typology, however, the inscription appears to preserve an early example of Germanic ritual language. Rather than a product of Romanisation (as archaeologists have assumed for similar votive bog finds), the inscription on the Vimose buckle is better understood in terms of the linguistic anthropology of dedica…
Work Songs and Whetstones
The late Elmer Antonsen (1929-2008) was one of the few runic scholars ever to attempt to explain his interpretational method formally, and is most important (and influential) for the overtly neo-Bloomfieldian approach that he brought to his analyses of the older runic corpus. An expert in historical Germanic phonology, Antonsen had a manner of assessing early Nordic texts that may be epitomized in his treatment of the inscription on a whetstone f…
Of Ettins and Ents
The three Old English terms for “giant”—þyrs, eoten and ent—all have difficult etymologies. Traditionally linked with eat, Scandinavian cognates of eoten suggest that the term formerly inflected as a nasal stem. Þyrs, on the other hand, has an unambiguous etymological connection with “wounding” (comparable to that represented by þorn), while ent seems best explained as reflecting a loanword
On the typology of the texts that appear on migration‐era bracteates
Historiographically, the main tradition of interpreting the Old Germanic bracteates has been that developed by Karl Hauck in the late 1960s. Much contested by critics, Hauck's bracteate iconology has also influenced the way the runic legends that appear on the golden amulets are understood in much continental scholarship. This paper presents an alternative interpretation of such testimonies of early Nordic language based on a less‐ambitious appro…
‘Giving’ and ‘Making’ in Early Runic Epigraphy
A survey of the early Germanic etymological semantics of ‘giving’ and ‘making’ is presented in light of the recent reaffirmation that early Nordic * taujan is etymologically related to Old Norse tœja ‘grant, bestow, help, assist’. Contextualising the early runic fabricatory and dedicatory inscriptions in terms of sociological, textual and anthropological theory, a new interpretation of early runic pragmatics is developed. The new approach to earl…
Socialist emulation in China
Chinese labour heroes represent an idiosyncratic expression of a broader twentieth-century phenomenon of promoting worker emulation through the hailing of model labourers. Taken from a comparative perspective, the Chinese practice can be seen not only as modelled on an earlier Soviet development, but also a broader need felt in totalitarian regimes in the 1930s and 1940s that workers needed to be 'remoralised' through the establishment of cults o…
Creating 'Community'? Preparing for Bushfire in Rural Victoria
The term 'community' has a long and contested lineage in social analysis and debate. This lineage, however, is not generally recognized in policy and public debates on community and bushfire in Australia. 'Community' is thought to be central to bushfire preparedness in Australia, especially in rural areas, but what 'community' actually means in this context is vague at best. There is an ever-present tension between the use of 'community' as a ref…
Runic Amulets and Magic Objects
A fresh examination of one of the most contentious issues in runic scholarship - magical or not? The runic alphabet, in use for well over a thousand years, was employed by various Germanic groups in a variety of ways, including, inevitably, for superstitious and magical rites. Formulaic runic words were inscribed onto small items that could be carried for good luck; runic charms were carved on metal or wooden amulets to ensure peace or prosperity…
Early Celtic metre at Vergiate and Prestino
No description available
Style, Manner and Formula in Early Germanic Epigraphy
No description available
Early Rhineland Germanic
No description available
Die Aktualität des Verdrängten
Preview this article: Die Aktualität des Verdrängten: Studien zur Konrad Ehlich & Katharina Meng (eds.). Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft im 20. Jahrhundert., Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/hl.33.1-2.17mee-1.gif
Creating 'Community'? Preparing for Bushfire in Rural Victoria
The term 'community' has a long and contested lineage in social analysis and debate. This lineage, however, is not generally recognized in policy and public debates on community and bushfire in Australia. 'Community' is thought to be central to bushfire preparedness in Australia, especially in rural areas, but what 'community' actually means in this context is vague at best. There is an ever-present tension between the use of 'community' as a ref…
Socialist emulation in China
Chinese labour heroes represent an idiosyncratic expression of a broader twentieth-century phenomenon of promoting worker emulation through the hailing of model labourers. Taken from a comparative perspective, the Chinese practice can be seen not only as modelled on an earlier Soviet development, but also a broader need felt in totalitarian regimes in the 1930s and 1940s that workers needed to be 'remoralised' through the establishment of cults o…
Hitler and Germanentum
This article investigates the concept of Germanentum (Germanicness) in nazi Germany in light of the use of a similar concept, romanità (Romanness) in fascist Italy, and of Hitler’s response to German antiquity enthusiasts. Rather than the dismissive attitude often cited by historians, this article shows that Hitler accepted many aspects of the cult of Germanicness, but in keeping with his early wish to distance the Nazi Party from some sections o…
The Charismatic Organization
British Telecom’s 1984 partial privatization set in motion the privatization and deregulation of many international state-owned telecommunications carriers. Most previous research on the privatization and deregulation of state-owned telecommunications carriers has focused on the economic outcomes. However, this was also a time of changes in managerial practice and thinking influenced by organizational theory. This article presents an analysis of …
Of Ettins and Ents
The three Old English terms for “giant”—þyrs, eoten and ent—all have difficult etymologies. Traditionally linked with eat, Scandinavian cognates of eoten suggest that the term formerly inflected as a nasal stem. Þyrs, on the other hand, has an unambiguous etymological connection with “wounding” (comparable to that represented by þorn), while ent seems best explained as reflecting a loanword
The Triple Binds of Kragehul and Undley
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Runic erilaR
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Prestino, patrimony and the Plinys
Development of the Italian
A Celtic orphan from Castaneda
In November of 1935, a uniquely puzzling inscription in Etruscoid characters was discovered among the remains of an Iron Age necropolis west of the church at Castaneda in Canton Grisons (Graubünden, Grigione). The inscription is engraved along the spout of a bronze oinochoe (Schnabelkanne) , and apart from a solitary chi inscribed on another find from this necropolis, is the only evidence of alphabetism to have been unearthed from the site. Casta…
Hitler and Germanentum
This article investigates the concept of Germanentum (Germanicness) in nazi Germany in light of the use of a similar concept, romanità (Romanness) in fascist Italy, and of Hitler’s response to German antiquity enthusiasts. Rather than the dismissive attitude often cited by historians, this article shows that Hitler accepted many aspects of the cult of Germanicness, but in keeping with his early wish to distance the Nazi Party from some sections o…
Arier” und “Draviden
Preview this article: Review of ““Arier” und “Draviden”: Konstruktionen der Vergangenheit als Grundlage für Selbst- und Fremdwahrnehmungen Süda” by Michael Bergunder and Rahul Peter Das (eds.), Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/hl.31.1.09mee-1.gif
Early Rhineland Germanic
No description available
Die Aktualität des Verdrängten
Preview this article: Die Aktualität des Verdrängten: Studien zur Konrad Ehlich & Katharina Meng (eds.). Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft im 20. Jahrhundert., Page 1 of 1 /docserver/preview/fulltext/hl.33.1-2.17mee-1.gif
Early Celtic metre at Vergiate and Prestino
No description available
Style, Manner and Formula in Early Germanic Epigraphy
No description available
Runic Amulets and Magic Objects
A fresh examination of one of the most contentious issues in runic scholarship - magical or not? The runic alphabet, in use for well over a thousand years, was employed by various Germanic groups in a variety of ways, including, inevitably, for superstitious and magical rites. Formulaic runic words were inscribed onto small items that could be carried for good luck; runic charms were carved on metal or wooden amulets to ensure peace or prosperity…
‘Giving’ and ‘Making’ in Early Runic Epigraphy
A survey of the early Germanic etymological semantics of ‘giving’ and ‘making’ is presented in light of the recent reaffirmation that early Nordic * taujan is etymologically related to Old Norse tœja ‘grant, bestow, help, assist’. Contextualising the early runic fabricatory and dedicatory inscriptions in terms of sociological, textual and anthropological theory, a new interpretation of early runic pragmatics is developed. The new approach to earl…
Socialist emulation in China
Chinese labour heroes represent an idiosyncratic expression of a broader twentieth-century phenomenon of promoting worker emulation through the hailing of model labourers. Taken from a comparative perspective, the Chinese practice can be seen not only as modelled on an earlier Soviet development, but also a broader need felt in totalitarian regimes in the 1930s and 1940s that workers needed to be 'remoralised' through the establishment of cults o…
Creating 'Community'? Preparing for Bushfire in Rural Victoria
The term 'community' has a long and contested lineage in social analysis and debate. This lineage, however, is not generally recognized in policy and public debates on community and bushfire in Australia. 'Community' is thought to be central to bushfire preparedness in Australia, especially in rural areas, but what 'community' actually means in this context is vague at best. There is an ever-present tension between the use of 'community' as a ref…
On the typology of the texts that appear on migration‐era bracteates
Historiographically, the main tradition of interpreting the Old Germanic bracteates has been that developed by Karl Hauck in the late 1960s. Much contested by critics, Hauck's bracteate iconology has also influenced the way the runic legends that appear on the golden amulets are understood in much continental scholarship. This paper presents an alternative interpretation of such testimonies of early Nordic language based on a less‐ambitious appro…
The Vimose Dedication as Ritual Language
The inscription on the Vimose buckle has been the subject of a long and diverse historiography. Taken in the light of early runic epigraphic typology, however, the inscription appears to preserve an early example of Germanic ritual language. Rather than a product of Romanisation (as archaeologists have assumed for similar votive bog finds), the inscription on the Vimose buckle is better understood in terms of the linguistic anthropology of dedica…
Work Songs and Whetstones
The late Elmer Antonsen (1929-2008) was one of the few runic scholars ever to attempt to explain his interpretational method formally, and is most important (and influential) for the overtly neo-Bloomfieldian approach that he brought to his analyses of the older runic corpus. An expert in historical Germanic phonology, Antonsen had a manner of assessing early Nordic texts that may be epitomized in his treatment of the inscription on a whetstone f…
Of Ettins and Ents
The three Old English terms for “giant”—þyrs, eoten and ent—all have difficult etymologies. Traditionally linked with eat, Scandinavian cognates of eoten suggest that the term formerly inflected as a nasal stem. Þyrs, on the other hand, has an unambiguous etymological connection with “wounding” (comparable to that represented by þorn), while ent seems best explained as reflecting a loanword
Industry Superannuation Funds
At the time of the founding of the industry superannuation funds, the Australian retirement-savings market was dominated by insurance mutuals. In the early 1980s, less than half the workforce was covered by occupational superannuation and unions saw the insurance mutuals, created in the nineteenth century, as part of the problem in this widespread market failure. When establishing industry-wide schemes, union leaders largely eschewed the language…
Sievers’ Law and the Skåäng Stone
Early runic inscriptions are the best evidence for the oldest historical development of North Germanic. Yet among the many unexpected features of the inscriptions as they are usually presented is the apparent presence of vowels before glides that seem to occur contrary to Sievers’ Law. These include perhaps most prominently the sequence usually read as on the Skåäng stone where the Vimose comb preserves the expected form . Rather than assume that…
Early Germanic *hanha- ‘horse’ and *hanhistaz / *hangistaz ‘stallion’
Difficult etymologies in Germanic include that of * hanha - ‘horse’ and * hanhistaz / *hangistaz ‘stallion’. Reflections of the latter term are widely evidenced in the Old Germanic dialects while the former is attested onomastically on a late-fourth-century memorial from Burgundy and has also been claimed to be reflected in early runic epigraphy. Both terms appear to continue a remorphologised s -stem * hanhaz ~ *hangisō and have clear Celtic cou…
Left Branch Extraction and Clitic Placement in Gaulish
The inscriptional remains of Gaulish preserve syntactic behaviours that are not expected from the perspective of the diachronic schemes usually posited for the development of early Insular Celtic syntax from Proto-Indo-European. Widespread evidence is attested, particularly for the behaviour of clitics, that does not seem reconcilable with many of the assumptions made in previous studies regarding the nature of the syntax of Proto-Celtic. Gaulish…
The Charismatic Organization
British Telecom’s 1984 partial privatization set in motion the privatization and deregulation of many international state-owned telecommunications carriers. Most previous research on the privatization and deregulation of state-owned telecommunications carriers has focused on the economic outcomes. However, this was also a time of changes in managerial practice and thinking influenced by organizational theory. This article presents an analysis of …
The inscription on the Vimose plane and (other) West Germanic finds from Denmark
The Vimose plane features an early runic inscription that has long remained opaque, with none of the attempts to explain it having commanded assent in the historiography. Like the inscription on the Vimose buckle, however, the text on the wood plane appears to preserve an early example of West Germanic religious language. The inscription on the sharpener shows some parallels with comparable Roman texts but also distinctively West Germanic phonolo…
Batavian Pero and Germanic *perō ‘pear’
The Batavian name Pero is best understood as a derivative of Germanic *perō ‘pear’. Names that also feature the root per - are recorded from other parts of the Roman Empire in connection with Germanic speakers and seem to reflect the influence of pear growing in the Roman provinces. This influence was so great that the name of the p -rune also appears to have been derived from *perō ‘pear’. The early Germanic names Pero, Uxperus and Gamuxperus se…
Linguistics and language evolution (21 works) · History (18 works) · Art (16 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · Literature (12 works) · Archaeology (10 works) · Ancient history (9 works) · Medieval Literature and History (9 works) · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies (8 works)