On Sep 7, 2008, at 3:18 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
>
> Well, it's the connotation. "Tribe," as opposed to "nation," implies
> alleged primitivity, at least in my mind. E.g. civilized Romans vs.
> barbaric German tribes.
>
The Roman term "tribune" is cognate to "tribe." The constituent
political units of Athenian democracy and of the Roman republic were
the tribes. Western culture is irremediably marked by the
contributions of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Iroquois
confederacy, the most democratic political institution ever to exist
on this benighted continent, was composed of five (later six) tribes.
> Maybe I'm full of shit.
Shane Mage
"Thunderbolt steers all things...it consents and does not consent to be called Zeus."
Herakleitos of Ephesos