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Manx (cat)

Manx (cat)

The Manx is a breed of cat with a naturally occurring mutation of the spine. This mutation shortens the tail, resulting in a range of tail lengths from normal to tailless. The hind legs are longer than the front legs, creating a continuous arch from shoulders to rump giving the cat a rounded appearance. Manx cats move with more like a hop than a stride when running; in this aspect, they resemble rabbits more than cats. Many Manx have a small 'stub' of a tail, but Manx cats are best known as being entirely tailless: it is the distinguishing characteristic of the breed.

Origin

The Manx breed originated on the Isle of Man, hence their name. It is called kayt Manninagh in Manx Gaelic. They are an old breed, and tailless cats were common on the island as long as two or three hundred years ago. It is unknown exactly how the mutation originated, but one legend states that it was the result of cats surviving a shipwreck centuries ago. Legends even claim that Noah caused the breed to be tailless by closing the door to the ark as the Manx was entering, cutting off the tail. Other legends allege that cats and rabbits mated, and their offspring became the Manx cat; the reasoning behind this is the fact that Manx usually do not have tails, and have longer hind legs, which gives them a similar appearance to rabbits, especially when running. This was further reinforced by the Cabbit myth. The most probable scientific explanation of this breed's existence is that once the dominant mutant tailless gene was introduced to the island, it became common and concentrated in the genetically isolated population. This resulted in the "normal" cat on the island having a short or nonexistent tail.

Other Tailless Cats

scientific It is possible that excessive inbreeding can result in short tails, however, the Manx breed has its shortened tail due to a mutation in the tailless gene, which is dominant and inheritable regardless of the inbreeding coefficient of a particular cat. This gene, like many others, also occurs in the domestic cat population and in fact was probably transferred from the Isle of Man to it. For a cat to be considered a Manx, registering bodies (CFA, TICA, GCCF etc..) require that the cat show ancestry from the Isle of Man in an unbroken line of succession. Many of the distinguishing characteristics of cat breeds occur naturally sometimes in the domestic population. As much as cat resembles a certain breed, they are considered domestic cats unless the ancestry has been tracked through a pedigree. This is the same in pedigreed dogs. Thus a random bred cat lacking a tail is a domestic tailless, but not a Manx.

Tail length

pedigree The Manx tailless gene is dominant and highly penetrant; kittens from Manx parents are generally born without any tail. There is no proven ratio of the amount of tailed to tailless kittens produced in each litter. However, tailed Manx bred to tailed Manx normally results in all tailed kittens, even though there are exceptions. Manx kittens are classified according to tail length:
- Dimple rumpy or rumpy - no tail whatsoever
- Riser or rumpy riser - stub of cartilage or several vertebrae under the fur, most noticeable when kitten is happy and raising its 'tail'
- Stumpy - partial tail, more than a 'riser' but less than 'tailed'
- Tailed or longy - complete or near complete tail Breeders have reported all tail lengths within the same litter. The ideal show Manx is the rumpy. The stumpy and tailed Manx do not qualify to be shown. Depending on the presence of the mutant gene, their kittens may or may not be tailed. In the past, kittens with stumpy or full tails have been docked at birth as a preventative measure due to some partial tails being very prone to a form of arthritis that causes the cat severe pain. However, tailed Manx cats have been born for hundreds of years on the Isle of Man with no known documented problems. Most countries today have banned alteration of animals for cosmetic appearances. Some United States breeders still practice the docking Manx kittens tails as a rule. This practice is declining as other Manx breeders educate people that this breed can have a partial to full tail with no ill effects, and yet still be a Manx cat. Docking tails on cats is not exclusively performed on the Manx breed; it can be performed on any cat breed for medical necessity. The mutation that causes a Manx cat to be born without a tail does not occur in every Manx kitten — not all Manx cats lack a tail. However, since they carry Manx genetics, their kittens or descendants can be born without a tail even if their parents had tails. Some stumpy Manx are born with kinked tails because of incomplete development of the tail during the fetal stage. This is somewhat rare though, as other tail lengths (or lack thereof), as well as straight-tailed stumpy tails are much more common.

Health

fetal Pedigreed Manx cats today are much healthier and have fewer health issues related to their genetics than Manx of years ago. This is due in part to the careful selection of breeding stock, and knowledgeable, dedicated breeders. Manx have been known to live into their mid- to high-teens and are no less healthy than other cat breeds. Like any other cat, keeping Manx cats indoors, neutering or spaying, and providing acceptable surfaces for the cat's normal scratching behavior are vital to lengthen the life of any cat.

Manx Syndrome

Manx Syndrome is a colloquial name given to the condition which results when the mutant tailless gene responsible for shortening the cats' spine has an excessive negative effect. It can seriously damage the spinal cord and the nerves. The cat can have problems with spina bifida, bowels, bladder, and digestion as a result. Actual occurrences of this are rare in modern examples of the breed due to informed breeding practices. [http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/manx-faq.html#medical] Most pedigreed cats are not placed until four months of age to make sure that proper socialisation has occurred. This gives adequate time for any mutant gene-related health issues to be seen, as they turn up early in the cat's life. According to Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, both the Manx tailless gene and the Scottish Fold fold-eared gene are potential lethal genes in utero if extreme tailless to tailless are mated or if extreme fold-eared to fold-eared are mated. Problems are most likely to occur when two completely tailless Manx are bred together. For this reason, responsible breeders generally breed a 'stumpy' or fully-tailed Manx with a 'rumpy' or 'rumpy riser' to minimise the chances of serious defects. This breeding practice is responsible for the decreasing occurrence of spinal problems in recent years.

Personality

Scottish Fold The Manx breed is a highly intelligent cat breed, it is playful, and in its behaviour, very reminiscent of dogs; for example, some Manx cats will fetch small objects that are thrown. It is considered a social feline, and the breed loves humans. This attribute makes them an ideal breed for families with young children. Some members of this breed tend to like water, many times even playing with it. This trait makes it very easy to give some Manx cats a shower for hygiene purposes, unlike most other cats. Although not as trainable as dogs, Manx cats can learn simple commands, such as No. Other cat breeds that share similar personality traits are Bengal and Ocicat. If there are multiple Manx cats in a household, an owner might notice that they chase each other frequently. This is common behaviour for Manx cats; they like to chase each other. However, Manx cats usually are very quiet cats, so this is typically their only vice. One issue that Manx owners may have to deal with is that a completely tailless cat may display problems with bathroom hygiene. Many cats use their tail as an aid for releasing Feces. Since the rumpy variants do not have a tail, fecal matter may stick to their fur in the anal area, resulting in the Manx using whatever it can (carpets, the litter box, furniture, et cetera.) to assist in removal. This is not done out of spite, nor is it observed in every rumpy Manx. Such behaviour may be difficult to extinguish in a cat that has this issue.

Coat

Manx cats exhibit two coat lengths. The short-haired Manx has a double coat with a thick, short under-layer and a longer, coarse outer-layer with guard hairs. The long-haired Manx, known to some cat registries as the Cymric, has a silky-textured double coat of medium length, with britches, belly and neck ruff, tufts of fur between the toes and full ear furnishings. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) considers the Cymric to be a variety of Manx. It is referred to as a long-haired Manx, but is shown in the short-hair division with short-haired cats even though its hair is longer. The International Cat Association (TICA) recognises the long haired Manx as a Cymric; the same in all respects as the Manx, except that the Cymric has a longer coat. TICA judges the Cymric with other long-haired cats in the long-hair division. Short- or long-haired, all Manx have a thick double-layered coat.

Trivia

- The Manx breed, in spite of the absence of tail, has no problems with balance.
- The Isle of Man has adopted the Manx as a symbol of its native origins. On the Isle of Man, Manx cats appear on currency, coins and stamps.
- Even though Manx cats cease to be kittens after one year, it takes up to five years for any Manx cat to be fully grown.
- The Manx was developed before the 1700s, and since the breed is of medium size, the weight is on average 5.5 kg (12 lb).

Reference

Lorraine Shelton, et al.; Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, 4th edition; Butterworth-Heinemann; ISBN 0750640693 (hardcover, 1999)

External links

- [http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/manx-faq.html Cat Fanciers The Manx: Cat Breed FAQ]
- [http://cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/manx.html Cat Fanciers' Association Breed Profile: Manx]
- [http://www.manxcats.com/myths.htm Manx Syndrome Myth and Truth]
- [http://www.americanmanxclub.org/ American Manx Club]
- [http://www.manxbc.org/ The Manx Breed Council]
- [http://www.messybeast.com/cabbit.htm Cabbits--What are they?] Category:Isle of Man Category:Cat breeds

Cat breeds

A cat breed is an infrasubspecific rank for the classification of domestic cats. A cat is considered to be of a certain cat breed if it is true breeding for the traits that define that breed. Only three percent of owned cats belong to a cat breed, and an even smaller percentage of those are suitable as show cats. A breeding certificate proves that a cat belongs to a cat breed by showing the cat's pedigree back to at least four generations. The whole concept of cat breeds is a relatively new one. Two hundred years ago there was no such thing. Today there are almost a hundred cat breeds. Varieties of domestic cat can also be identified by characteristics other than breed. See selective breeding for more indepth detail on purebred animals.

External links

- [http://www.breedlist.com/faq/purebred.html Is my cat a purebred?]
- [http://www.travelswithtigger.com/fanciers/breed-desc.html Cat breeds FAQ]
- [http://www.cfainc.org/breeds.html The Cat Fanciers' Association recognized breeds] Category:Cats

CAT

:See also Cat (disambiguation) The acronym CAT may stand for: #Cable Avoidance Tool #California Achievement Test #Call Any Time #Calling All Troops #Camarillo Area Transit #Cambridge Antibody Technology, the UK biotechnology company #Canadian Association of Transplantation #Canby Area Transit, a public transportation bus service in Canby, Oregon #Canine Agility Team #Capital Acquisitions Tax #Capital Area Transit #Capsule Ariane Technologies #Carboxyatractyloside #Carburetor Air Temperature #Casual American Teenager #Catalan language #Catalonia #Catalunya #Catalyst #Catalytic Converter #Catamaran #Catapult #Cataract #Catastrophe #Catch Airboat Thieves #Catechism #Catenate #Caterpillar #CECOM Accreditation Team #Cellular Action Team #Center for Advanced Technologies #Center for Appropriate Transport #Central African Time #Central Alaska Time #Central Area Transit, the free bus transit system that running in Perth City. #Central Arizona Trails #Central Arkansas Transit #Central Artery-Tunnel #Centre for Alternative Technology, an eco-centre in Wales #Certified Automotive Technician #Change Agent Team #Channel Available Time #Charges, easy Access and fair Terms #Chemical Addition Tank #Chicago Area Theatres #Chromatic Adaptation Transform #Citizens Against Tolls #Citizens Area Transit, public transportation by bus in Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) #Citizens' Army Training #Civic Action Team #Civil Air Transport, the airline forerunner of Air America that was formed after World War II by General Claire Lee Chennault of the Flying Tigers #Civil Aviation Tribunal #Civilian Augmented Training #Clear air turbulence, a term in aviation #Clemson Area Transit #Cloud Arrival Time #Cockpit Automation Technology #Cognitive Ability Test #Coital Alignment Technique #Collaborative Access Team #College Ability Test #College of Advanced Technology #Combat AGE Team #Combat Aircraft Technology #Combat Aircrew Training #Combat Application Tourniquet #Combat Auto Theft #Combined Acceptance Trials #Combined Arms Team #Combined Arms Training #Command Action Team #Commodity Action Team #Common Admission Test, a graduate test in India, conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management or by Cochin University of Science and Technology #Common Aptitude Test #Common Authentication Technology #Communications Assist Team #Community Action Team #Compact Audio Technology #Competency Assessment Tool #Complementary Angle Theorem #Compliance Assessment Team #Component Advanced Technology #Computer-adaptive test, a type of test that dynamically adapts to the testee's ability level #Computer-aided tomography #Computer Aided Transceiver, a class of software application and communications interface used for the control of radio transmitting and receiving equipment, especially amateur (ham) radios. #Computer-aided technology #Computer-aided training #Computer-aided transcription #Computer-aided translation #Computer-assisted translation, a form of computer software used to help human translators #Computed axial tomography, a tomographical X-ray technique #Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope, the first telescope to measure fine details in the fireball from the Big Bang #Culture, Art, & Technology, the core writing courses that all Sixth College UC San Diego students are required to take. ja:CAT

Mutation

In biology, mutations are permanent, sometimes transmissible (if the change is to a germ cell) changes to the genetic material (usually DNA or RNA) of a cell. Mutations can be caused by copying errors in the genetic material during cell division and by exposure to radiation, chemicals, or viruses, or can occur deliberately under cellular control during the processes such as meiosis or hypermutation. In multicellular organisms, mutations can be subdivided into germline mutations, which can be passed on to progeny and somatic mutations, which (when accidental) often lead to the malfunction or death of a cell and can cause cancer. Mutations are considered the driving force of evolution, where less favorable (or deleterious) mutations are removed from the gene pool by natural selection, while more favorable (or beneficial) ones tend to accumulate. Neutral mutations do not affect the organism's chances of survival in its natural environment and can accumulate over time, which might result in what is known as punctuated equilibrium, a disputed interpretation of the fossil record. Contrary to tales of science fiction, the overwhelming majority of mutations have no significant effect. Visible effects are especially rare, since DNA repair is able to reverse most changes before they become permanent mutations.

Structural classification

Structurally, mutations can be classified as:
- Small-scale mutations affecting one or a few nucleotides, including:
- Point mutations, often caused by chemicals or malfunction of DNA replication, exchange a single nucleotide for another. Most common is the transition that exchanges a purine for a purine (A ↔ G) or a pyrimidine for a pyrimidine, (C ↔ T). A transition can be caused by nitrous acid, base mispairing, or mutagenic base analogs such as 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU). Less common is a transversion, which exchanges a purine for a pyrimidine or a pyrimidine for a purine (C/T ↔ A/G). A point mutation can be reversed by another point mutation, in which the nucleotide is changed back to its original state (true reversion) or by second-site reversion (a complementary mutation elsewhere that results in regained gene functionality). These changes are classified as transitions or transversions. An example of a transversion is adenine being converted into a cytosine. There are also many other examples that can be found. There are three kinds of point mutations, depending upon what the erroneous codon codes for:
- silent mutations: codes for the same amino acid, so has no effect
- missense mutations: codes for a different amino acid
- nonsense mutations: codes for a stop, which can truncate the protein (mutations that give a UAG stop codon are known as amber mutations)
- Insertions add one or more extra nucleotides into the DNA. They are usually caused by transposable elements, or errors during replication of repeating elements (e.g. AT repeats). Most insertions in a gene can either alter splicing of the mRNA, or cause a shift in the reading frame (frameshift), both of which can significantly alter the gene product. Insertions can be reverted by excision of the transposable element.
- Deletions remove one or more nucleotides from the DNA. Like insertions, these mutations can alter the reading frame of the gene. They are irreversible.
- Large-scale mutations in chromosomal structure, including:
- Amplifications (or gene duplications) leading to multiple copies of chromosomal regions, increasing the dosage of the genes located within them.
- Deletions of large chromosomal regions, leading to loss of the genes within those regions.
- Mutations whose effect is to juxtapose previously separate pieces of DNA, potentially bringing together separate genes to form functionally distinct fusion genes (e.g. bcr-abl). These include:
- Chromosomal translocations: attaching DNA from separate chromosomes.
- Interstitial deletions: removing regions of DNA from a single chromosome, thereby apposing previously distant genes (e.g. fig-ros).
- Chromosomal inversions: switching the orientation of a segment of a chromosome, thereby apposing its ends to previously distant genes.
- Loss of heterozygosity: loss of one allele, either by a deletion or recombination event, in organisms which previously had two.

Functional classification

Mutations in genes can be classified according to how they change the function or expression of the gene product. The following terms describe mutations that affect the gene product directly:
- Loss-of-function mutations are the result of the protein encoded by the gene having less or no function. When the allele has a complete loss of function (null allele) it is often called an amorphic mutation. Phenotypes associated with such mutations are most often recessive. Exceptions are when the organism is haploid, or when the reduced dosage of normal gene product is not enough for normal phenotype (this is called haploinsufficiency).
- Gain-of-function mutations change the gene product such that it gains a new and abnormal function. These mutations usually have dominant phenotypes.
- Dominant negative mutations (also called antimorphic mutations) have an altered gene product that acts antagonistically to the wild-type allele. These mutations usually result in an altered molecular function (often inactive) and are characterised by a dominant or semi-dominant phenotype.
- Lethal mutations are mutations that lead to a phenotype incapable of effective reproduction.
- Conditional mutation is a mutation that has wild-type phenotype under certain enivironmental conditions and a mutant phenotype under certain selective conditions. Conditional mutations may also be lethal under certain conditions. Some characterizations also include mutations that affect expression of a gene:
- Hypomorphic mutations are mutations that cause reduced function of the gene product, or a negative change in expression of the gene.
- Hypermorphic mutations are the opposite of hypomorphic mutations; they cause increased activity or expression of the gene product.
- Neomorphic mutations cause a novel molecular function or expression of the gene product. The following types of mutations are classified according to their phenotypic results:
- Morphological mutations usually affect the outward appearance of an individual. Mutations can change the height of a plant or change it from smooth to rough seeds.
- Biochemical mutations result in lesions stopping the enzymatic pathway. Often, morphological mutants are the direct result of a mutation due to the enzymatic pathway.

Causes of mutation

Two classes of mutations are spontaneous mutations (molecular decay) and induced mutations caused by mutagens. Spontaneous mutations on the molecular level include:
- Tautomerism - A base is changed by the repositioning of a hydrogen atom.
- Depurination - Loss of a purine base (A or G).
- Deamination - Changes a normal base to an atypical base; C → U, or A → HX (hypoxanthine).
- Transition - A purine changes to another purine, or a pyrimidine to a pyrimidine.
- Transversion - A purine becomes a pyrimidine, or vice versa. Induced mutations on the molecular level can be caused by:
- Chemicals
- Nitrosoguanidine (NTG)
- Base analogs (e.g. BrdU)
- Simple chemicals (e.g. acids)
- Alkylating agents (e.g. N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)) These agents can mutate both replicating and non-replicating DNA. In contrast, a base analog can only mutate the DNA When the analog is incorporated in replicating the DNA. Each of these classes of chemical mutagens has certain effects that then lead to transitions, tranversions, or deletions.
- Methylating agents (e.g. ethane methyl sulfonate (EMS))
- Polycyclic hydrocarbons (e.g. benzpyrenes found in internal combustion engine exhaust)
- DNA intercalating agents (e.g. ethidium bromide)
- DNA crosslinker (e.g. platinum)
- Oxidative damage caused by oxygen radicals
- Radiation
- Ultraviolet radiation
- Ionizing radiation DNA has so-called hotspots, where mutations occur up to 100 times more frequently than the normal mutation rate. A hotspot can be at an unusual base, e.g., 5-methylcytosine. Mutation rates also vary across species. Evolutionary biologists have theorized that higher mutation rates are beneficial in some situations, because they allow organisms to evolve and therefore adapt faster to their environments.

Mutation and disease

Changes in DNA caused by mutation can cause errors in protein sequence, creating partially or completely non-functional proteins. To function correctly, each cell depends on thousands of proteins to function in the right places at the right times. When a mutation alters a protein that plays a critical role in the body, a medical condition can result. A condition caused by mutations in one or more genes is called a genetic disorder. If a mutation is present in a germ cell, this can give rise to offspring that carries the mutation in all of its cells. This is the case in hereditary diseases. On the other hand, a mutation can occur in a somatic cell of an organism. Such mutations will be present in all descendants of this cell, and certain mutations can cause the cell to become malignant, and thus cause cancer. Often, gene mutations that could cause a genetic disorder are repaired by the DNA repair system of the cell. Each cell has a number of pathways through which enzymes recognize and repair mistakes in DNA. Because DNA can be damaged or mutated in many ways, the process of DNA repair is an important way in which the body protects itself from disease.

Mutagenisis

Mutagenisis (the creation or formation of a mutation) can be used as a powerful genetic tool. By inducing mutations in specific ways and then observing the phenotype of the organism the function of genes and even individual nucleotides can be determined. See:
Transposons as a genetic tool for the use of transposable elements for analysis of gene function. Site-directed mutagenisis for the use of site specific mutation for analysis of function.

References

- Maki H. 2002. Origins of spontaneous mutations: specificity and directionality of base-substitution, frameshift, and sequence-substitution mutageneses. Annual Review of Genetics 36:279-303.

External links

- The mutations chapter of the WikiBooks General Biology textbook
- [http://www.evowiki.org/index.php/Mutation EvoWiki: Mutation]
- http://www.gate.net/~rwms/EvoMutations.html Examples of Beneficial Mutations Category:Evolutionary biology Category:Genetics
- ko:돌연변이 ja:突然変異

Stride

Stride can stand for:
- Stride, a type of piano playing
- Stride of an array, in computer programming
- Stride security, a model for attack threads in computer security

Manx

Manx can refer to:
- The people of, or other things pertaining to, the Isle of Man
- The Manx language, Manx Gaelic
- The Manx cat, a domestic cat breed
- The Manx Shearwater, a seabird
- The Manx Loaghtan, a breed of sheep
- The Meyers Manx, a small car
- Manx kippers, a traditonal food stuff
- The Manx palm, a palm tree that can be found in the Isle of Man
- Manx cattle and Manx horses, now extinct animals once found on the Isle of Man

Manx Gaelic

Manx (Gaelg or Gailck), also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language spoken on the Isle of Man. It is a descendant of Middle Irish, particularly similar to the old Ulster and Galloway dialects.

History

Manx dates to around the 5th century and is called Yn Ghaelg / Yn Ghailck by Manx speakers. The language sharply declined during the 19th century and was supplanted by English. In 1848, J. G. Cumming wrote that "there are ... few persons (perhaps none of the young) who speak no English", and Henry Jenner estimated in 1874 that about 30% of the population habitually spoke Manx (12,340 out of a population of 41,084). According to official census figures, 9.1% of the population claimed to speak Manx in 1901; in 1921 the percentage was only 1.1%. Since the language had fallen to a status of low prestige, parents tended to fail to teach the language to their children, thinking that Manx would be useless to them compared with English. By the middle of the 20th century only a few elderly native speakers remained (the last of them, Ned Maddrell, died on December 27, 1974), but by then a scholarly revival had begun to spread to the populace and many had learned Manx as a second language. The first native speakers of Manx (bilingual with English) in many years have now appeared: children brought up by Manx-speaking parents. Primary immersion education in Manx is provided by the Manx government: since 2003, the former St. John's School building has been used by the Bunscoill Gaelgagh (Manx language-medium school). Degrees in Manx are available from the Isle of Man College, the Centre for Manx Studies and the University of Edinburgh. Manx-language playgroups also exist, and Manx language classes are available in island schools. In the 1991 census, 650 out of a population of about 71,000 claimed to have knowledge of Manx, although the degree of knowledge in these cases presumably varied. Manx is used by the Tynwald, with new laws being read out by Yn Lhaihder ('the Reader') in both Manx and English. Manx is recognised under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It is also one of the regional languages recognised in the framework of the British-Irish Council. Some controversy has resulted over the omission of Manx culture from the Columba Initiative. The revival of Manx has been aided by the recording work done in the 20th century by researchers, notably the Irish Folklore Commission in 1948. There has historically been little secular Manx literature. Arguably, no trace of written Manx survives from before the 1600s, but the Book of Common Prayer and [http://www.gaelg.iofm.net/BIBLICAL/BIBLICAL.html Bible] were translated into Manx in the 17th and 18th centuries. A tradition of carvals, religious songs or carols, developed. Following the decline in the use of Manx during the 19th century, Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh (The Manx Language Society) was founded in 1899. Today Manx is used as the sole medium for teaching at five of the Island's pre-schools by a group named Mooinjer Veggey, two primary schools; Bunscoill Ghaelgagh and Scoill Balley Cottier. Manx can be taught as a second language at all of the Island's primary and secondary schools and also at the Isle of Man College and Centre of Manx Studies. Manx is also taught at the University of Edinburgh.

Orthography

The spelling of Manx, unlike that of Irish and Scottish Gaelic, does not represent the Goidelic etymology, and more closely resembles an English speaker's attempt to write Gaelic, with a degree of Welsh influence evident from the use of 'y' and 'w'. This is because Manx developed without a written literature, and when attempts were made to introduce a standardised orthography for the language, the choice was made to spell the words in an English manner. For example, 'Isle of Man' in Irish would be written as Oileán Mhanainn or in Scottish Gaelic as Eilean Mhanainn, whereas in Manx it is written as Ellan Vannin. Although it is commonly said that Phillips, a Welsh-speaking bishop, introduced the writing system, it does appear to have some similarities with similar English based systems that have been found in Scotland. For example, the Book of the Dean of Lismore is written in Scottish Gaelic using such a system.

Initial consonant mutations

orthography welcome signs. Note here the consonant mutation of Doolish (Douglas) to Ghoolish.]] Like all modern Celtic languages, Manx shows initial consonant mutations, which are processes by which the initial consonant of a word is altered according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment. The only productive mutation of literary Manx is lenition, though traces of the eclipsis found in Irish can also be found. In the late spoken language of the 20th century the system was breaking down, with speakers frequently failing to use lenition in environments where it was called for, and occasionally using it in environments where it was not called for.

Vocabulary

Key: SCO - Scottish Gaelic, IRL - Irish

Numbers

Notes

# Fourth International Conference on Minority Languages, Vol. II, Gorter et al, 1990, pages 59-60.

External links

- [http://www.gaelg.iofm.net/EMENU.html Information about the language]
- [http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/history/manks/ isle-of-man.com language section]
- [http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/search.html Gaelic Dictionaries]
- [http://homepages.enterprise.net/kelly/FRONT/INFO/info.html Manx Language resources] Category:Goidelic languages Category:Isle of Man Manx Category:Minority languages als:Manx ja:マン島語 nb:Mansk språk

Noah

:This article is about the biblical Noah. For the Book of Mormon king, see King Noah. Noah or Nóach ("Rest," Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ Nóaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew נֹחַ Nōªḥ; Arabic نوح Nūḥ), is a Biblical figure who, according to Genesis, built an ark to save his family and each species of the world's animals from the Deluge (an example of Divine retribution). The story of his life is told in the Book of Genesis and the Qur'an.

Life of Noah

Qur'an According to the account in Genesis, Noah was the son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah. He and his wife had three sons: Japheth, Sem or Shem, and Ham. The order can be deduced from the Genesis record: Noah was 500 when the first son, Japheth, was born (Genesis 5:32) and 600 when the Flood came. Shem had his son, Arphaxad, 2 years after the Flood, when he was 100 years old (Genesis 11:10), making him 2 years younger than Japheth. Ham is stated to be the youngest (Genesis 9:24). (See Sons of Noah for further discussion). Noah's wife is not named in the western canon of the Bible. Later Midrashic writings give her name as Naamah, also employed by the Book of Jasher. According to the Book of Jubilees (canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church) her name was Emzara. According to Genesis, Noah was a "just man and perfect in his generation", and "walked with God" (cf. Ezekiel 14:14,20). The "sons of god" (Hebrew elohim) and "the daughters of men" began to intermarry, and from them sprang up a race of giants. Men became more and more corrupt, and God determined to rid the Earth of its wicked population (Gen. 6:7). But God entered into a covenant with Noah, with a promise of deliverance from the threatened Deluge (Gen. 6:18). He was accordingly commanded to build an ark (6:14-16) to save himself and his family. According to Rashi, the Jewish medieval commentator, as well as Christian interpretations of Genesis preserved in the First Epistle of Peter 3:18–20 and the Second Epistle of Peter 2:5, an interval of 120 years elapsed while the ark was being built (6:3), during which Noah tried to convince the people to repent so they could avoid the wrath of God. When the ark of "gopher-wood" (a Biblical hapax legomenon) was finally completed, the living creatures that were to be preserved entered into it. Noah was commanded to save two of each non-kosher bird, animal and creeping thing (a male and a female) and seven of each kosher bird or animal (the additional creatures were meant to be brought as sacrifices after the Deluge). Noah also stocked up on enough food to feed all the humans and animals in the Ark for a year, plus seeds to replant trees, vegetables and the like after the Deluge. After the animals were in place, Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his three daughters-in-law entered it, and then the "Lord shut him in" (Gen. 7:16). The judgment of God then fell on the guilty world:
- Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them" (Gen 6:5-7).
- Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. (Gen 6:11-13) The waters rained down from above and burst out of terrestrial fissures below, flooding the earth for 150 days. All life was blotted out from the earth (the fish, though, survived in the water) and when the waters diminished, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat (in modern-day Turkey) (Gen. 8:3,4). To test whether the waters had indeed receded, Noah first sent out a raven and then a dove to see if these birds would find something to eat. The dove returned to him the second time with an olive leaf; the third time she did not return at all, as she found a place to build her nest. After a year of occupancy in the ark (Gen. 6:13), Noah was given permission to leave it (Gen. 6:16-17). His first act on dry land was to erect an altar (the first altar mentioned in the Bible) and offer sacrifices of thanks and praise to God. God entered into a covenant with Noah—the first covenant between God and man—granting him possession of the earth by a new and special charter, which remains in force to the present time (Gen. 8:21-9:17). As a sign and witness of this covenant, the rainbow was adopted and set apart by God as a sure pledge that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood. Genesis 9:20-27 relates that Noah planted a grapevine and, in the first mention of alcohol in the Bible, we are told that Noah drank of the wine, became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent (Gen. 9:21). Ham "saw his father's nakedness" (opinions differ on just what this means) and told his brothers about it. Ham's older brothers, Japheth and Shem, covered Noah's body with a garment, respectfully walking backwards and turning their faces (Gen. 9:23). When he awoke, Noah cursed Canaan, the young son of Ham, and all his descendants. Logically, in this account, Noah followed Adam as the ancestor of all human beings. The New Testament's gospels trace Jesus's ancestry, though they are not fully consistent with each other or with the Old Testament; Luke follows the geneology back to Noah (Luke 3:36: "... the [son] of Arphaxad, the [son] of Shem, the [son] of Noah, the [son] of Lamech").

Interpretive Differences

Christian

Noah is pointed to as someone who has absolute faith in God. Jesus referred to Noah as a real person and the Deluge as a historical event. He considered the Biblical account as a forerunner of the salvation of man.
- "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah" (Matt 24:37 NASB)
- "For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark" (Matt 24:38 NASB)
- "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man" (Luke 17:26 NASB)
- "they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27 NASB) (Noah and the Deluge are also mentioned in 1 Peter 3:20) Following New Testament Scripture, Hebrews and the Second Epistle of Peter, most Christians accept the account of Noah as a righteous man, in the same category as Abraham and Jacob.
- Hebrew 11:7—By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
- 2 Peter 2:5—and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly

Jewish

The Jewish tradition, however, gives Noah less credit as to his righteousness. At the start of the story, Noah is described as being "perfect in his generation" (Genesis 6:9), implying to some Jewish scholars that his perfection was only relative. In his generation of wicked people, he could be considered righteous, but in the generation of a tzaddik like Abraham, he would not be considered so righteous. The proof is that God gave him the task of building a huge ark, which took 120 years to construct. With such a massive building project going on for so long, there was plenty of time for other people to travel to Noah, ask him what he was doing, get the answer that a great flood was coming to wipe out the world because of their sins, and be motivated to repent. Noah answered all their questions but, unlike Abraham, he did not go one step further and actively pray to God on their behalf. In contrast, when Abraham heard about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a wicked part of town that he had nothing to do with, he nevertheless argued with God on their behalf and got God's promise that He would not destroy the cities if even 10 righteous people could be found there, Noah did not argue at all. He just went about his business and then entered the ark with his family and the animals when God told him to. This led later Jewish commentators to offer the metaphor of a man who is cold: A fully righteous person would light a fire to warm his entire environment, but a partly righteous person would only put on a coat and be warm while others stayed cold. Abraham lit a fire of God-consciousness in his part of the world, teaching others about God and trying to save them from sin. Noah was the "man in a fur coat," who ensured his and his family's safety while everyone else died. According to medieval Jewish traditions, the pre-Mosaic Noahide Laws established by God after the Deluge are binding on non-Jews, and serve to distinguish righteous gentile faiths from corrupted religious practices.

Islamic

نوح Nūḥ (the Arabic form of Noah) is a prophet in the Qur'an. Because the Qur'an is more poem than prose, references to Noah are scattered throughout the Qur'an, but no historical account of the entire Deluge is given. Generally speaking, the references in the Qur'an are consistent with Genesis and Islamic tradition generally accepts the Genesis account as historical. However, the degree of detail varies between the two accounts. Generally, the Qur'anic account emphasizes Noah's preaching of the monotheism of God, and the ridicule heaped on him by idolators. Particularly: :We sent Nuh to his people: He said, “O my people! worship Allah! Ye have no other god but Him. Will ye not fear (Him)?” :The chiefs of the Unbelievers among his people said: “He is no more than a man like yourselves: his wish is to assert his superiority over you: if Allah had wished (to send messengers), He could have sent down angels; never did we hear such a thing (as he says), among our ancestors of old.” :(And some said): “He is only a man possessed: wait (and have patience) with him for a time.” :(Nuh) said: “O my Lord! help me: for that they accuse me of falsehood!” God later instructed Nuh to build the ark: :But construct an Ark under Our eyes and Our inspiration, and address Me no (further) on behalf of those who are in sin: for they are about to be overwhelmed (in the Flood). (Surah Hud: 37) (Surat al-Mumenoon: 23-26) The Qur'anic account contains a detail not included in the Biblical account: a reference to another son who chose not to enter the ark: :So the Ark floated with them on the waves (towering) like mountains, and Nuh called out to his son, who had separated himself (from the rest): “O my son! embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers!” The son replied: “I will betake myself to some mountain: it will save me from the water.” Nuh said: “This day nothing can save, from the command of Allah, any but those on whom He hath mercy!” And the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the Flood. (Surah Hud: 42-43) Also, the Qur'anic account lacks several details of the Genesis account, including the crime of disrespect by Noah's son Ham in mocking, rather than covering his father's nakedness (Genesis 9:22), and the resultant cursing of his grandson Canaan. Some Muslims assert that the flood during Noah's time was a local event, in contrast to the Biblical account which asserts that it was global. They infer this from several Qur'anic verses. Other Muslims, however, hold that the flood was indeed global. The Qur'an is not explicit on the point, allowing for some variety of interpretation. See also Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an.

Mormon

Joseph Smith taught that Noah is the same person as the angel Gabriel: "The Priesthood was first given to Adam; ... He is Michael the Archangel, spoken of in the Scriptures. Then to Noah, who is Gabriel: he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 157). Noah is also the name of a king in the Book of Mormon; see King Noah.

Gnostic

The Apocryphon of John reports that the chief archon caused the flood because he desired to destroy the world he had made, but the First Thought informed Noah of the chief archon's plans, and Noah informed the remainder of humanity. Unlike the account of Genesis, not only are Noah's family saved, but many others also heed Noah's call. It explicitly disagrees with the account in Genesis that there was an ark; rather, it reports that Noah and the others hid in a "lumninous cloud" (Wisse translation).

Popular culture

- William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part II contains a wry comment about people who claim to be related to royal families. Prince Hal notes of such people, :...they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet. (II.ii 117-18) Genesis 10:5 was often interpreted to mean that the peoples of Europe were descended from Japheth. Clearly, then, any two Englishmen must have at least this one ancestor in common, and thus any individual could claim kinship with the king.
- In 1998 a made-for-tv movie entitled Noah depicted a carpenter who is visited by an angel and told to build another ark so he may survive another world flood.
- A professional wrestling circuit in Japan is called Pro Wrestling NOAH. The name evokes the biblical story with the fact that most of its wrestlers left a more established promotion at the time, All Japan Pro Wrestling.

External links and references

- [http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/noah-ark Noah's Ark on the Web], comprehensive guide to Noah and the Deluge in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, art and culture
- [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=318&letter=N Jewish Encyclopedia: Noah] from the 1901-1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
- Manly Palmer Hall: [http://ageless-wisdom.tripod.com/mph_noah1.htm Noah and His Wonderful Ark] ---- Noah (Standard Hebrew נוֹעָה Noʿa, Tiberian Hebrew נֹעָה Nōʿāh) was the name of one of Zelophehad's daughters. Category:Christian prophets Category:Islamic prophets Category:Torah people ja:ノア (聖書)

Noah's Ark

:This concerns the boat described in the Hebrew scriptures. For other senses, see Noah's Ark (disambiguation). Noah's Ark (disambiguation)] In the Hebrew Bible's account (Gen. 6-9) of a Deluge (and the elaborations surrounding it in the various Abrahamic traditions), Noah's ark is a massive vessel Noah built at God's command to keep Noah, his family, and a core breeding stock of the world's animals safe from the Great Flood. It later landed on Mount Ararat, which at the time was in the territory of Armenia. Armenia

The ark

According to Genesis, the Ark was built of a mysterious "gopher wood". It has been suggested that it is related to the Hebrew word kopher (pitch), or was at one time kopher but miscopied. If so, it would mean that the Ark was made of wood of a specific tree (that is now unknown) and treated with pitch. The 'resinous wood' prescribed in Genesis 6:14 is thought by some to be cypress or a similar tree. In Noah's part of the world, what is today called cypress was in abundant supply; it was particularly favored for shipbuilding by the Phoenicians and by Alexander the Great, as it is even down to the present time; and it is especially resistant to water and decay. Doors and posts made of cypress are reported to have lasted 1,100 years. In addition, Noah was told not merely to caulk the seams but to "cover [the ark] inside and outside with tar (pitch)." Some modern translations of the Bible actually go so far as to replace the word gopher with cypress; however, the word for "cypress" in Biblical Hebrew is erez, a word unrelated to gopher. The Ark is described as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, with two additional floors inside. However, the actual size of the ark cannot be determined, because the biblical account does not specify the type of cubit. It is probable that the Royal Egyptian Cubit was meant, since the Bible states that Moses (The writer of the Flood Account) was educated in Egypt. This would indicate that Noah's Ark would be approximately 515 feet in length. If the Egyptian cubit was used, the Ark's dimensions could range from 129 metres long, 21.5 metres wide and 12.9 metres high (less than half the length of the modern luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2), to 165 metres long by 27 metres wide and 16.5 metres high. If the Sumerian cubit was used, the metric equivalents would approximate 155.2 metres in length, 25.9 metres in width and 15.5 metres in height. Using the most conservative of these measurements (129 m long by 21.5 m wide by 12.9 m high) would give the ark approximately 40,000 m³ in gross volume. It is estimated that such a vessel would have a displacement nearly equal to that of the 269 m (882 ft 9 in) Titanic of last century. No cargo vessel of ancient times would even slightly resemble the ark in its colossal size. With the addition of the two floors called for in the directions, such a vessel would be internally strengthened, and the three decks thus provided would yield a total of about 8,900 square metres (96,000 ft²) of space. The proportion of length to width (6 to 1) described in the account is used by modern naval architects, and is a very stable shape, unlike the cube-shaped ark of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Traditional pictures of the ark typically show an unresearched depiction (something shaped like a boat, with both a traditional bow and stern, and sometimes an uncovered main deck). The Hebrew text uses the word tebah or "box" to describe the Ark. The oblong three-storey structure recorded in Genesis is described as having a door in the side and a window in the roof. It is unclear just what the window was, as only one dimension is given for it. It is possible that, because only the height was given, the Ark had a window all the way around the top of the ship for light. The Hebrew word for window, tsohar, merely indicates a "light aperture", giving no indication of its size or shape. Genesis states that Noah was commanded to "complete it to the extent of a cubit upward". The use of the words "extent" and "upward" suggest something akin to a raised vent or stack, which could have served as a ventilation shaft for the passengers. The account does not, however, mention a cover or door for the window. In preparation for the flood, Noah, his wife, his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives entered the ark - eight persons in all. They took seven pairs of each kind of clean animal, two pairs of each kind of unclean animal and seven pairs of each kind of bird into the ark. Then God sealed the door. It is a commonly held misconception that there were only two of each animal on board the ark. This misconception is furthered by many traditional depictions of the scene. According to Talmudic Jewish tradition, the ark had an extra passenger: the giant Og, King of Bashan, who sat on the roof of the ark during the whole of the flood period and so survived the flood. Noah passed him food out a window. Verse 3:20 of the Christian book 1 Peter however, states to the contrary that only eight souls were on the ark and therefore saved from the deluge, accounting only for Noah, his three sons, and the men's four wives).

The flood

the men's four wives The Genesis narrative states that on the seventeenth day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life, the "fountains of the great deep" and "windows of heaven" broke open, bringing on the deluge -- both from 40 days of rain and a subterranean water source. Genesis gives a specific timeline for the flood. The flood was sent in the 600th year of Noah's life. Then “the floodgates of the heavens were opened” (Genesis 7:11, 16). An incessant torrential downpour followed for “forty days and forty nights”; “the waters continued overwhelming the earth” for 150 days (Genesis 7:4, 12, 24). Five months after the downpour began, the ark “came to rest on the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4). It was nearly two and a half months later before “the tops of the mountains appeared” (Genesis 8:5), another three months before Noah removed the ark’s covering to see that the earth had practically drained (Genesis 8:13), and nearly two months later when the door was opened and the survivors set foot on dry ground once again (Genesis 8:14-18). As Noah entered the ark on the 17th day of the 2nd month in the 600th year of his life, one year later (a year consisting of 360 days) would be the 17th day, 2nd month, 601st year. Ten days after that would be the 27th day of the 2nd month, when they disembarked; a total of 370 days, or parts of 371 separate days, spent in the ark. In the log that Noah kept, it appears he used months of 30 days each, 12 of them equaling 360 days - avoiding the complicated fractions that would be involved had he used strictly lunar months consisting of slightly more than 29 1/2 days. It is evident that such calculations were used in the account, since Genesis states that a five-month period consists of 150 days (Genesis 7:11, 24; 8:3, 4). According to Archbishop Ussher's calculations, the flood took place around 2348 BC. However, widely differing dates have been calculated by various methods. Some conservative scholars have more recently arrived at the date of 2522 BC.[http://www.grisda.org/origins/07053.htm] According to the Book of Jubilees, the flood occurred in 1309 Anno Mundi, and the Exodus in 2410 A.M. While the dates in Jubilees do not correspond with the Masoretic recension of Genesis, they do agree with the Samaritan version, which is arguably older. If one were to calculate the date of the flood from this, assuming that the Exodus occurred in 1208 BC, one arrives at the year 2309 BC. Jesus referred to the Deluge as a historical event (and Noah as a real person), pointing to this as a forerunner of the Salvation of man:
- "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah" (Matt 24:37 NASB)
- "For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark" (Matt 24:38 NASB)
- "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man" (Luke 17:26 NASB)
- "they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27 NASB) (Noah and the Deluge were also mentioned in 1 Peter 3:20)

After the flood

After several months, water began to subside, and the Ark came to rest on "the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4). That statement is more ambiguous than the question "where in those mountains?" would suggest, and some hoaxes and misconceptions involve these ambiguities. After waiting another forty days, Noah sent forth a dove to see if there was dry land for it to land on, but it returned. He waited seven more days, and sent it again, and it returned with an olive leaf. After another week, he sent it out yet again, but this time it did not return. He knew then that the time had come to disembark -- a year and ten days from the time the deluge had begun. God commanded Noah to take his family and all the animals out of the ark and concluded a covenant with him, where he promised never to flood the Earth again, and imposed a basic set of laws on humanity. God symbolized his promise with a rainbow, to remind his people after each storm that he would never again destroy the world by water.

Theology

The Biblical account asserts that God sent the flood because mankind had become completely corrupt, and the heart of mankind was full of sin, so God regretted having made mankind, and decided to wipe it out, saving only Noah and his household, because he found Noah to be a just and righteous man. (Genesis 6:6). This raises a number of theological issues regarding the nature of God. Critics of the story find the idea of an all-good, all-powerful God destroying humanity and all other life on the planet (except Noah, his family and the animals on the Ark of course), simply because He was displeased with them, highly questionable and immoral if it were true. Christians, Muslims, and Jews are divided between those who take the story as "literally true" and those who do not. The former, including Protestant fundamentalists and most Orthodox Jews, believe that the flood was a historical part of God's divine plan for the Earth and mankind which—although it may appear harsh to us—was just and good in His eyes. The latter, including most Catholic theologians, liberal Protestants, Conservative and Reform Jews, seek to understand its message about God's love for mankind without believing in either the historicity or theology of planetary destruction. Those subscribing to Open Theism believe that God created Mankind hoping they would remain good and walk with Him, but that God was surprised and disappointed to find mankind had become completely corrupt and violent. This led God to regret having created mankind, and to choose to wipe them out and start afresh.

Other flood accounts

Flood stories are widespread in world mythology, with examples found in European, African, Native American, Middle Eastern, Chinese, and other societies. Noah's counterpart in Greek mythology was Deucalion and Pyrrha, found in Apollodorus's Bibliotheke and Ovid's Metamorphoses, among other sources. In Indian texts, a terrible flood was supposed to have left only one survivor—a saint named Manu, who was saved by Vishnu in the form of a fish. The Sumerian story of Utnapishtim, dating to the third millennium BC and found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, has broadly the same structure and plot as the Genesis account. The Sumerian story was later translated into Akkadian, Hittite and—through the fragments Berossus's Babyloniaka—Greek. The story of Yima in Zoroastrian mythology also contains a very similar account, although in this case it is ice, not water, that threatens life.

The flood as purported history

Liberal Biblical scholarship concludes that the Biblical account was based upon Mesopotamian models. A majority of Christian fundamentalists believe that the prevalence of the story points to its origin in an actual, historical event. They argue that the high level of detail given in Genesis makes it an inherently reliable account, and that the other stories are accounts of the same historical event which were distorted into mythology over time. They claim that the Epic of Gilgamesh is merely a corrupted retelling of Genesis (though this is rejected by liberal biblical historians and archaeologists, some of whom regard Genesis as having been written considerably later than Gilgamesh -- although this is not known for certain). Outside Christian fundamentalist, Jewish Orthodox, and Muslim circles, the Biblical account is regarded as being somewhere between apocryphal and metaphorical. As the majority of the human population has historically lived close to water sources such as rivers and seas (and still does), one would expect that exceptional floods would occasionally happen and be recorded in traditional histories. Such floods would be local (though widespread) in character, possibly affecting the entire known world of the tribe or people in question. A catastrophic flood event could thus be "global" from the geographically limited perspective of those who experienced it, but would not be global in the sense of affecting the entire planet. This local flood interpretation was once popular in Christianity and still is with many scholars. In addition, the concept of a universal flood is one that lends itself particularly well to metaphor, symbolising the eradication of sin and corruption and the renewal of the Earth and mankind. Historians have pointed out that the "superpowers" of the ancient Middle East – the Sumerians, Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians – all lived in flood plains where annual inundations were a keenly-awaited event in the religious and social year.

Geology

Flood geology, a doctrine advanced by young-earth creationists, holds that the global flood of Genesis actually occurred, and that many geological formations of today are best explained in terms of a global flood in the recent past. This includes phenomena such as submarine river canyon extensions, layered fossil fuel deposits, fossil layers, and layered sedimentary strata. The so-called "dinosaur graveyards" are purported to be evidence of a massive flood. It is also suggested that large quantities of water could have carved out the Badlands and the Grand Canyon much more rapidly than a single river over the course of millenia. This is rejected by old-earth creationists and mainstream geology – which holds that the Earth is extremely ancient, that geological formations were created over many millions of years and that there was no Great Flood. The concept of flood geology was abandoned as a mainstream scientific hypothesis in the mid-19th century following advances in scientific understanding of geological processes, though it is still promoted by Biblical maximalists including the above-mentioned groups. Again, some have suggested that the Biblical account may be based on folk memories of severe but localised floods that affected the Persian Gulf or Black Sea regions in prehistoric times, although the legend exists in Mayan mythology as well. Science author Isaac Asimov speculates in Asimov's Guide to the Bible Volume One that a large meteoroid or small asteroid striking the Persian Gulf could have flooded much of Mesopotamia and been the source of the legend.

Biology

The Genealogies of Genesis make a clear assertion that people lived between 700 and 900 years before the flood, but that the lifespans quickly dropped immediately following the flood to approximately 100 years by the time of Abraham. Some creationists have claimed that this drop in lifespans was due to the negative effects of inbreeding and a less hospitable environment following the flood[http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/years.asp], although scientific evidence to support this idea is scanty at best. However, increased radiation from dated stellar events such as supernovae has been suggested by some creationists. It should be noted that Creationists are not necessarily opposed to the concept of biological evolution, only to the notion that it could be responsible for the diverse array of life found today. Nearly all Creationists would agree that evolution within a species is clearly demonstrable, although they would argue that inter-special evolution is not. Some Creationists take more of a middle ground, suggesting that God created a significant number of species wholly intact, and "started the motor" of biological evolution, resulting in the millions of distinct species now observed. Biology as understood by creationists holds that the animals on the ark were representatives of the created kinds, not representative of every species known to modern taxonomy. These 'kinds' had significantly more genetic information and a significantly superior genetic structure than the animals of today, and that speciation from these 'kinds' followed the flood as a result of reproductive isolation and loss of genetic information. Although it is unknown exactly how animal 'kinds' relate to modern taxonomic classifications, the creation narrative in Genesis indicates that a 'kind' is a category that was reproductively isolated from other 'kinds'. Creationists have defined kinds as creatures that can hybridize at least to the point of fertilization, or can hybridize with the same third creature, and are attempting to categorize modern species by baraminology. They do not claim that the kind has a one-to-one correspondence with the man-made categories such as genus, family or order.[http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v22/i3/ligers_wolphins.asp] For example, some creationists have argued that Felidae may have been a "kind," and the various subtaxa of felines speciated due to reproductive isolation and inbreeding in the years following the flood. On this basis creationists argue that there would have been about 16,000 individual creatures on board the ark [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v19/i2/animals.asp]. A very few creationists argue that some dinosaurs were also included aboard as passengers, but given the fact that they are extinct, it is more usual to assume that they perished with the "corrupted beasts". [http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/dinos_on_ark.asp] Opponents argue that there is little chance that so few humans and animals would have survived for long. With such a small gene pool, they argue, the survivors would have become extinct soon because of the negative effects of inbreeding. However, the Chatham Islands black robin population was regenerated almost entirely from one female called "Old Blue". Opponents further argue that even if they had survived, the genes of all extant species would show the effects of a severe population bottleneck. It is unclear where enough evidence exists to prove or rule out the existence of similar bottlenecks in all species - precisely dating population bottlenecking events is difficult and not all species have been studied equally. However, the human genome does provide evidence for a population bottleneck, which most evolutionary biologists now agree occured about 70,000 years ago. Other research states that some animal species such as pandas, and Galapagos tortoises, show population bottlenecking at similar magnitudes of time (43,000 and 88,000 years respectively).

Skepticism

Skeptics claim several theoretical problems in the tale of Noah's ark:
- It would not be possible to hold all the world's species in an ark with the dimension specified above. There are possibly up to 100 million animal species alone.
- It would not be possible to feed these millions of animals, both during the flood and shortly afterwards. This is a particular issue for carnivore species.
- How did specific species and classes of animals become trapped on different continents? For example, most marsupials are only found in Australia, while isolated islands such as Madagascar are home to many species found nowhere else. If the account of Noah's ark is true, it is argued that a more homogenous converge of species should be expected.
- Many aquatic ecosystems would have died off from a massive change in salinity. Also many aquatic species cannot tolerate the massive changes in pressure, acidity, resource distribution and other factors that would be changed in a global flood.
- Many modern plants would not have survived.
- Rainbows would have existed prior to the great flood unless the laws of physics changed or it had never rained during the daytime.

Creationist answers

Creationists in turn claim that:
- Noah did not have to take two of every breed of a particular animal. For example, Noah did not have to take two cocker spaniels, two german shepherds, etc., just two dogs. As with all humans being able to trace to a common ancestor, such is the case with the animal species.
- Noah did not have to take adult animals, just babies (though how these were given fresh milk and nutrition, among other material, is left unclear). Also, many animals hibernate for periods of time, and during this time feeding would not be necessary.
- The Hebrew used to describe the animals in the ark limits the types to the animals people interacted with. In other words, penguins or animals unique to the Western Hemisphere would not be included.
- It is unknown how many species exist, and fewer than 2 million are currently classified (May, R.M., How many species are there on Earth? Science 241:1441, 1988.) Of the less than 2 million that are classified, over 60% are insects. According to the Hebrew words used, the Ark had to take only land vertebrates, not insects, plants or marine creatures (including mammals such as whales and porpoises) which could have survived outside of the Ark. In addition, kinds is a broader term than species - some researchers estimate that there are only about 290 species or kinds of land mammals larger than sheep and over 1,300 smaller than rats (The Deluge Story in Stone, by B. C. Nelson, 1949, p. 156; The Flood in the Light of the Bible, Geology, and Archaeology, by A. M. Rehwinkel, 1957, p. 69).
- The number of carnivores has been highly exaggerated, so feeding them would not have been a problem. Carnivores could have been fed with dried meat or fodder turtles.
- Migration patterns across land bridges and human input created species specific to certain continents.[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/faq/migration.asp]
- There would be different places of different salinities in the Flood. Fresh water can float on salt water for extended periods. Many species can tolerate different salinities if they have time to acclimatize. Some intolerant species are likely the result of specialization which involves loss of genetic information.[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/fish14.asp]
- Darwin showed that many seeds can still germinate after months of submersion in brine.[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/re1/chapter2.asp] Other plants could reproduce vegetatively.
- Most creationists have abandoned the idea that Noah's rainbow was the first which was based on a misreading of Genesis Chapter 9. It is worth noting that, historically, the Noachian Flood was used to explain why animals like dinosaurs are extinct. Supposing that plants, insects and marine animals were all capable of surviving outside the Ark then leads to a puzzle: why did the plesiosaurs and other sea-dwelling reptiles go extinct along with the dinosaurs? The same question can be posed for other, less dramatic sea creatures (e.g., ammonites), and for extinct species of insect (e.g., Meganeura dragonflies). Discussion of these points can be found in James Burke's The Day the Universe Changed, chapter 7.

Depth of the floodwaters

Flood geologists hold that the antediluvian mountains were significantly lower than present ranges, that present mountain ranges were formed only after radical geological activity during and after the flood, including the dropping of the sea-floor to draw the extra water off the continents. They point to submarine river canyon extensions on the Ganges, Congo, Hudson, and Amazon as evidence that sea levels were much lower at one time, and that the canyons were formed as the flood-waters receded from the continents. Genesis 1:9 refers to God's commanding the water to gather to one place, implying a single large ocean and single large continent (a factor leading Antonio Snider in 1859 to suggest that the continents had separated during the Flood, although it was not until the 1960s that the idea of continental movement was widely accepted). Genesis 10:25 says that "the earth was divided" during the days of Peleg, after the flood, although it is not certain whether or not this refers to the division of the continents; but it would explain how animal and plant life had time to spread between continents. Psalm 104 says that after the waters covered the mountains, the mountains rose and the valleys sank. All of this suggests that (a) the flood did not need to cover the modern-day mountains, and (b) the subterranean water added to the seas during the flood is now stored in the rearranged and deeper-than-before oceans.

Ancient Chinese characters

Creationists hold that the word for "boat" in Chinese characters (which survived the 1950s and 1960s character simplification) appears to be composed of the symbols for "vessel," "eight," and "person" (literally "mouth," and sometimes translated as "family member"). According to Chinese tradition, the characters were developed by the historian Cangjie at the order of the Yellow Emperor during the 3rd millennium BC, and in many cases used combinations of pictograms to represent more abstract ideas. They argue that Cangjie based his character for "boat" on his historical knowledge of the eight people saved on a ship through the flood (Nelson, Broadberry and Chock, 1997) [http://www.yutopian.com/religion/words/]. The components for "eight" and "person" have been reduced to merely phonetic significance in Chinese today. Image:Noah's_flood_in_chinese.JPG However, most Chinese characters cannot actually be interpreted by their graphic elements alone [http://www.coastalfog.net/languages/chinchar/chinchar.html]. The vast majority of Chinese characters are actually radical-phonetic compounds, in which the radical indicates the meaning while the phonetic indicates the pronunciation (usually based on the pronunciation of Ancient Chinese) (DeFrancis, 1984). In the case of the character for "boat," 船, the left-side radical is 舟 (meaning "boat" or "vessel"), while the right-side phonetic 㕣 is shared with other characters that have similar pronunciations. For instance, in Cantonese Chinese, which preserves many of the rimes of Ancient Chinese, the characters 船 ("boat"), 沿 ("along"), and 鉛 ("lead metal"), all of which feature the same phonetic, are pronounced syùhn, yùhn, and yùhn, respectively. The 㕣 phonetic used in 船 does not actually signify "eight persons" but rather only the pronunciation. In addition, the 八 in the phonetic originally meant "to divide", not "eight," which is the modern meaning. Finally, the interpretation also falls short due to the fact that the oracle script (the type of Chinese writing that was used when Cangjie supposedly developed Chinese writing) for the character 船 is not known to exist [http://www.internationalscientific.org/Etymology.aspx?characterInput=%E8%88%B9&submitButton1=Etymology].

Effects on linguistic and race classification

Linguistics until the 19th century divided the races and languages of the world into three categories: Semitic (Middle Eastern), Hamitic (North African) and Japhetic (European), under the assumption that the peoples of these regions were descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth respectively. The former two terms are still considered valid linguistic divisions, but the latter has largely fallen out of use since the mid-20th century. Exactly how languages outside of the classical world fit into this scheme has been debated.

Modern searches

The most popular locations for searches are somewhere in the mountains of Ararat (Ağrı Dağı in Turkish) and most specifically Mount Judi (Cudi Dağı in Turkish) in the Ararat range in eastern Turkey. In 1840, a large earthquake struck Eastern Turkey. Some who climbed Ararat to build emergency baracades against the snow reported to have seen a strange boat-like object up the peak. In 1876, an English explorer named James Bryce climbed the mountain and found a five foot slab of hand-hewn timber at a summit where no trees had grown. Unfortunately, the sample deteriorated into splinters when he climbed down and few took notice. In 1952, an American oil worker named George Jefferson Green was flying in a helicopter in a reconaissance mission over Ararat when he claimed to have spotted and photographed a strange boat-like object protruding from a glacier. Green was killed in a robbery shortly afterwards. All of his valuables, including the photgraphs he took, were stolen. An investigative reporter tried to locate them but to no avail. However, he collected sworn affadavits from many who knew Green that saw his photographs and described the strange object therein. In 1976, a movie called In Search Of Noah's Ark was released. It was based on a book by Charles Balsiger and David Sellier documenting accounts of those who claimed to have seen the Ark. One of the most detailed came from an Armenian named George Hagopian. Shortly before his death in 1972, Hagopian gave a detailed account of how as a child he actually climbed to the top of Noah's Ark. He said that in 1906, his uncle took him on a pilgram's journey to the sacred vessel. Hagopian told illustrator Elfred Lee that he saw a large boat like object sticking out of a glacier. He described it as a large rectangular box with a catwalk on the roof and holes for ventilation. He said the wood was hard as rock and he saw a large section where a doorway was missing. Hagopian said he went back to the site two years later and saw the same object but the snow was starting to cover it up again. In 1992, the NBC-TV program Unsolved Mysteries featured a segment on the Ark. The skit told of an American soldier in World War II named Ed Davis. He had served in Turkey and claimed to have also seen the Ark on the mountain. He also talked to Elfred Lee and basically described what George Hagopian had seen. However, Davis said that the Ark had broken in two. In 2004, yet another expedition went to Mount Ararat in Turkey to try to locate the Ark (formerly in Armenia; see Ararat anomaly). Samples from Turkey tested by Geological and Nuclear Sciences, a New Zealand government research institute, were found to be volcanic rock rather than petrified wood.

Modern allusions

In Western culture, the image of Noah's Ark with its many animals has taken on the symbolism of the effort to preserve wildlife. In 1980, Walt Disney Studios produced a film called The Last Flight Of Noah's Ark. This was a sort of modern retelling of the Biblical story. Elliott Gould played a pilot named Noah Dugan who is called to fly an old World War II cargo plane full of animals. The plane encounters trouble and crashes on a remote island. Dugan and the others on the plane rebuild the wreck into a boat with the animals on board and float back to civilization. Noah's Ark toys with dozens of pairs of animal figures, usually set up in a long two-abreast line leading to the toy ark, were popular among middle-class children in the 19th century. A "space ark" is a common plot element in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction, with species of all life on Earth preserved in space in case of some terrestrial disaster, usually a world-wide nuclear war. The book Nolans Ark is about a spaceship with eight people escaping a flood of energy that destroys Earth. Modern aberrations of the ark (coined '[http://www.answersingenesis.org/us/newsletters/0602lead.asp bathtub arks]'), are usually depicted in improper scale and shape. Apologetics ministries, like Answers in Genesis, point out that these aberrations are '[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/feedback/negative_01July2002.asp not innocent]', because by not following the dimensions given in the Bible, it is leading many people to conclude that Noah's Ark couldn't have accommodated all the animals on board and that the ark would not have survived the Deluge [http://www.answersingenesis.org/us/newsletters/0602lead.asp]. Timothy Findley's 1984 novel Not Wanted on the Voyage presents a humorous reinterpretation of the Noah's Ark story. In Spriggan, the manga depicted Noah's Ark as a weather control device, created by an ancient alien race. It was made of wood but wrapped by energy field, which made the ark suspended in time. Inside, Spriggan agents Yu Ominae and Jean Jacquemonde found all creatures in deep hibernations. The energy field was destroyed when MacDougal activated the Ark's self-destruct system, thus causing all the animals inside to crumble to dust.

References

- Between pages 4 and 5 is a fine illustration what they claim was the ancient Hebrews' view of the world and cosmology.
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- [http://www.rae.org/faqark.htm]
- Ross, Hugh, The Genesis Question: Scientific Advances and the Accuracy of Genesis, 2001, ISBN 1-576-83230-9

External links

Gateways

- [http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/noah-ark/ Noah's Ark on the Web], comprehensive guide to Noah's Ark in art, religion, archaeology and culture.

Texts

- [http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible%2C_English%2C_King_James%2C_Genesis#Chapter_6 Bible version], Genesis 6ff. (King James Version)
- [http://www.flood-myth.com/ Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic]
- [http://www.laputanlogic.com/articles/2004/05/07-0001.html Laputan Logic] on Babylonian version of the flood myth

Supporting

- [http://www.AllAboutPopularIssues.org/Noahs-Ark.htm Noah's Ark — A Christian Perspective]
- [http://www.worldwideflood.com www.worldwideflood.com] promotes a world-wide flood
- [http://www.biblicalgeology.net/ Geology and the Bible (Tas Walker’s biblical geology page)]
- [http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/noah.asp Noah's Ark FAQ from Answers in Genesis] has many articles on the subject.
- [http://www.geocities.com/darrickdean/flood.html A Bridge Over Troubled Waters]
- [http://www.evidence.info/creation/localflood.html The Genesis Flood: Why the Bible Says It Must be Local]
- [http://www.reasons.org/resources/fff/2002issue10/index.shtml?main#noahs_flood Noah’s Flood: A Bird’s Eye View]
- [http://www.evidence.info/creation/localflood.html How Far Did the Flood Waters Flow?]
- [http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/noahark.html Building Noah's Ark, how could an early man with little technology build a large floating vessel?]

Skeptical

- [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html Problems with a Global Flood]
- [http://skepdic.com/noahsark.html Noah's ark]
- [http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/13377.htm Problems with Noah's Ark]
- [http://home.austarnet.com.au/stear/insurmountable_problems_of_ark.htm The Insurmountable Problems Associated with "Noah's Ark"]
- [http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/noahs_ark.html "Why it's a load of old cobblers"]

"Ark search"

- [http://www.wyattmuseum.com Official Website of Ron Wyatt]
- [http://www.noahsark-naxuan.com Noah's Ark and Naxuan] promoting the discovery of Noah's city, near Durupinar
- [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i4/report.asp Special report: Amazing ‘Ark’ exposé] (creationist critique of Ron Wyatt)
- [http://www.thedaysofnoah.com/en_index.asp Media Evangelism] First Chinese expedition led by The Media Evangelism from Hong Kong.

Other

- [http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/the_flood/gn06_11.html The Brick Testament], Noah's Ark in Lego
- [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1780&letter=A&search=noah Jewish Encyclopedia: Ark of Noah]
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01720a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: Noah's Ark]
- [http://www.epicidiot.com/evo_cre/noahs_flood.htm Noah's Flood - What does the Evidence Say?] Category:Torah events Category:Torah events ja:ノアの方舟

Offspring

---- In biology, offspring are the product of reproduction, a new organism produced by one or more parents. Human offspring (descendants) are referred to as children (without reference to age, thus one can refer to a parent's "minor children" or "adult children"); male children are sons and female children are daughters. See kinship and descent. simple:offspring

Myth

The word mythology (from the Greek μυολογία mythología, from μυολογειν mythologein to relate myths, from μυος mythos, meaning a narrative, and λογος logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. The modern definition of mythology primarily the body of myths from a particular culture or religion, as in Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology or Norse mythology. Mythology is also the branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths.

What is mythology?

Myths are generally narratives passed down traditionally intended to explain the universal and local beginnings ("creation myths" and "founding myths"), natural phenomena, inexplicable cultural conventions, and anything else for which no simple explanation presents itself. Not all myths need have this explicatory purpose, however. Myths are by definition sacred, and involve a supernatural force or deity. Many legends and narratives passed down orally from generation to generation have mythic content. In common parlance, a myth is generally considered a "mere story" — that is, a story that holds meaning for people, but the core of which is untrue. In folkloristics, which is concerned with the study of both secular and sacred narratives (the latter being myths), a myth also derives some of its power from being believed and deeply held as true; to folklorists, all sacred traditions have myths, and there is nothing pejorative or dismissive about the term as there is in common usage. This broader truth runs deeper than the advent of critical history which may, or may not, exist as in an authoritative written form which becomes "the story" (Preliterate oral traditions may vanish as the written word becomes "the story" and the literate become "the authority"). However, as Lucien Lévy-Bruhl puts it, "The primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development." (Mâche 1992, p.8) Most often the term refers specifically to ancient tales from very old cultures, such as Greek mythology or Roman mythology. Some myths descended originally as part of an oral tradition and were only later written down, and many of them exist in multiple versions. According to the eighth chapter of F. W. J. Schelling's Introduction to Philosophy and Mythology, "Mythological representations have been neither invented nor freely accepted. The products of a process independent of thought and will, they were, for the consciousness which underwent them, of an irrefutable and incontestable reality. Peoples and individuals are only the instruments of this process, which goes beyond their horizon and which they serve without understanding."

Religion and mythology

Mythology figures prominently in most religions, and most mythology is tied to at least one religion. Some use the words myth and mythology to portray the stories of one or more religions as false, or dubious at best. While nearly all dictionaries include this definition, "myth" does not always imply that a story is either false or true. The term is most often used in this sense to describe religions founded by ancient societies whose belief systems are nearly extinct. However, it is important to keep in mind that while some view myths as merely stories, others may hold them as a religion. By extension, many people do not regard the tales surrounding the origin and development of modern dominant religions as literal accounts of events, but instead regard them as figurative representations of their belief systems. Many modern day rabbis and priests within the more liberal Jewish and Christian movements, as well as most Neopagans, have no problem viewing their religious texts as containing myth. They see their sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Others separate their beliefs out from the similar stories of other cultures and refer to them as history.