Talk:Stelae of Nahr el-Kalb

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A fact from Stelae of Nahr el-Kalb appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 8 October 2014 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the commemorative stela of Nahr el-Kalb include inscriptions dedicated to Ramesses II in hieroglyphics, Esarhaddon in cuneiform, Caracalla in Latin, Barquq in Arabic and Napoleon III in French?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2014/October.

Wikipedia

Useful links[edit]

These may be useful:

General: [1][2][3]
Re Sesostris: [4][5]
Herodotus: "The pillars which Sesostris of Egypt set up in the various countries are for the most part no longer to be seen extant; but in Syria Palestine I myself saw them existing with the inscription upon them which I have mentioned and the emblem." Herodotus, The Histories, Book II, 106
Gaston Maspero: [6][7]

Oncenawhile (talk) 15:54, 4 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Page title[edit]

The Latin plural of stela is stelae, or if we decide the word has been adopted into English, it would take an s, stelas. "Stela are … ", mixing singular and plural, grates for me like chalk on a blackboard. Awien (talk) 12:38, 8 October 2014 (UTC) (adds) I personally would favour stelae. Awien (talk) 12:40, 8 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

So unless anyone objects, I propose to move the article to Commemorative stelae of Nahr el-Kalb, since the article deals with not just one stela, but a number of stelae. Awien (talk) 16:23, 8 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In the absence of objections (since I assume the page is being watched), I'm going ahead and making the move. Awien (talk) 19:54, 8 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi User:Awien, the "stela" version is an exact representation of the UNESCO usage (see [8]).

I am inclined to agree with you, but that would mean UNESCO need some grammar lessons. Are you 100% sure that "stela" is always singular in English? Oncenawhile (talk) 09:55, 9 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, User:Oncenawhile. Yes, UNESCO does indeed need a Latin lesson. The plural of stela being stelae is as sure as the plural of dog being dogs, but I just looked it up in Lewis and Short anyway (p. 1756). Also, both Oxford and Gage Canadian specify that the plural is stelae, but allow stele (directly from Greek) alongside stela as the singular. So the bottom line is that stela is singular and needs to be pluralised. Maybe UNESCO will look it up in WP and learn? Best, Awien (talk) 11:40, 9 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

To put it another way, the entry is always at stela (or stele), and is never designated as being invariable. Awien (talk) 12:38, 9 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]