Time to Pretend (EP)

Time to Pretend is the second EP by the American rock band MGMT, released on August 30, 2005 by Cantora Records and made available on iTunes. New versions of the tracks "Time to Pretend" and "Kids" were later released on MGMT's debut album Oracular Spectacular (2007–2008). At the time this was recorded they were still known as "The Management".

Will Griggs (member of the Cantora Records team) contacted David Perlick Molinari from French Horn Rebellion, for the production of this EP.

On October 1, 2015, MGMT announced on social media that the EP would be re-released on vinyl as part of Record Store Day on November 27, 2015.

Track listing

Quotes
"MGMT finally forayed with their first single, 'Time to Pretend' -- an understated anthem among inhabitants of Athens." – Julia Norman (Spin.com)


Anton Ghon

Anton Ghon (1 January 1866 – 23 April 1936) was an Austrian pathologist who was a native of Villach.

In 1890 he earned his medical degree in Graz, and afterwards spent several years at the pathological institute in Vienna, where he worked with Anton Weichselbaum (1845–1920). In 1910 he became a professor of pathological anatomy at the German University in Prague.

Ghon was a specialist in the field of bacteriology, and is remembered for his work with meningitis and tuberculosis. His name is lent to Ghon focus, which is a primary infection associated with tuberculosis, as well as Ghon's complex — when the aforementioned infection involves surrounding lymph nodes. His best written effort is a 1912 treatise of childhood tuberculosis called "Der primäre Lungenherd bei der Tuberkulose der Kinder".

Written works
 Der primäre Lungenherd bei der Tuberkulose der Kinder, (1912).
 Publications about Anton Ghon:
 "Ghon, but not forgotten, (Anton Ghon and his complex)"; WB Ober (1983).


Pudur, Tirunelveli

Pudur (S) is a panchayat town in Tirunelveli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Demographics
 India census, Pudur (S) had a population of 11,095. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Pudur (S) has an average literacy rate of 63%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 52%. In Pudur (S), 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.


Palmarsh

Palmarsh is a community (OS grid reference TR1333) in Folkestone and Hythe district, in the County of Kent. In origin it was a hamlet on the edge of the Romney Marsh, but modern development to the west of Hythe (mostly housing, together with some local shops) in a corridor along the A259 coastal road, has led to the joining together of the ancient town and cinque port of Hythe (to the east) and the rural hamlet of Palmarsh (to the west) in a single conurbation.

Facilities
Palmarsh is served by a Church of England church, known as Holy Cross Church, Palmarsh, which is united with the parish church in Hythe town centre. There is a state primary school. There is a public house called the Prince of Wales. The Royal Military Canal and the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway both pass through the community. The railway had a short-lived station here, named Prince of Wales halt, which opened in 1927 and closed in 1928. The Dymchurch Redoubt, a Napoleonic fortification and Scheduled Monument, is actually located in Palmarsh, and not the larger town of Dymchurch some two miles further west along the coast, from which it derives its name.

Economy
Palmarsh attracts holidaymakers, and there are several campsites and guest houses. It includes the western end of a large Ministry of Defence firing range, with associated military activity and army personnel. The largest single industry throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s was the Nickoll's Quarry (also known as Palmarsh gravel pits) where large quantities of gravel were excavated and sold by Nickoll's. The resulting deep quarry pits, now flooded, have been turned into a watersports centre, where there is much boating, fishing, and water skiing activity, as well as bird-watching.

Future development
Plans have been developed throughout the 1990s and 2000s for a large housing development at the Nickoll's Quarry end of Palmarsh. Plans have advanced slowly, partly due to local opposition, and partly due to allegations of corruption in the planning process for the proposed development, including allegations of official objections being hidden from publication.


Battlefield, Shropshire

Battlefield is a village  north of Shrewsbury town centre in Shropshire, England. The village is today split between three civil parishes - Shrewsbury, Astley and Pimhill.

Battle of Shrewsbury

It was roughly here that the Battle of Shrewsbury of 1403 took place. A church, commonly known as "Battlefield Church", but officially St. Mary Magdalene Church, was built in memory of the thousands who died.

Today the Battlefield Heritage Park is a visitor attraction, commemorating and interpreting the battle site.

Modern day Battlefield
The A49 runs through Battlefield, on its way from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch, as does the Welsh Marches Line (the Shrewsbury to Crewe railway line). The A53 begins its route at Battlefield.

Battlefield has two pubs. The Red Lion is the elder pub, and The Two Henrys is to the north of the Battlefield roundabout, as is the church, which lies just off the A49.

Also recently opened adjacent to the Two Henrys is a Spar Convenience store, which is the first in the UK to have a smoothie bar, and also Wi-fi networking.

Expansion of Shrewsbury
The town of Shrewsbury has over the past 10 years grown substantially in this area and the village is now part of the town. It is however split by a large Shrewsbury bypass roundabout ("Battlefield Roundabout"), one of the busiest in the county town.

The new Shrewsbury livestock market and a small hotel and service station has been built just off the A53 near the Battlefield Roundabout.

An industrial and business estate, the Battlefield Enterprise Park, has grown up in between the older Shrewsbury suburb of Harlescott and Battlefield.  It is located on the site of the Battle of Shrewsbury and the village of Battlefield is nearby.  A large part of the battlefield is, however, protected as a heritage site. Even so, the Battlefield Link Road (the A5124) runs straight through it and a car park has been built for visitors. The first businesses moved in during the mid-1990s, though the park became more established later that decade when the Battlefield Link Road, the A5124, was built.  The park is near the A49 and A53 and it is also adjacent to the Welsh Marches Line.

Governance
Battlefield is as an electoral ward of Shrewsbury Town Council and also Shropshire Council. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,193.


Orange (CDP), Massachusetts

Orange is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Orange in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,018 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography
Orange is located at  (42.587796, -72.308163).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 15.6 km² (6.0 mi²). 15.5 km² (6.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.17% is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,945 people, 1,545 households, and 999 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 253.9/km² (657.3/mi²). There were 1,663 housing units at an average density of 107.0/km² (277.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.87% White, 1.22% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.58% from other races, and 1.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.77% of the population.

There were 1,545 households out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 14.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the CDP, the population was spread out with 28.7% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $35,826, and the median income for a family was $43,704. Males had a median income of $33,769 versus $22,279 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $15,550. About 5.3% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 15.9% of those age 65 or over.


Pomponianus

Roman senator  Pomponianus was at Stabiae during the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, he was stuck to the shore because he was not favoured by the wind, so was greeted by Pliny The Elder in order to help him escape the increasing danger. He had then decided whether he and his friends had the choice of staying inside and having the roof fall on their heads because of the buildup of pumice, or to go outside and risk being hit by falling pumice and ash. He died after going outside.

He was probably the son of Gaius Tullius Capito Pomponianus Plotius Firmus.


Cheerleading uniform

A cheerleading uniform is a standardized outfit worn by cheerleaders during games and other events. These uniforms typically include the official colors and mascots of the school or team and are designed to make the wearer appear physically attractive.

Early styles/brief history

Cheerleading uniforms in the early 1900s were a steadfast symbol of the schools they represented, usually depicting the first letter of a high school or the first letter plus the letters "H" and "S", standing for "high school." These letters were normally sewn onto a sweater-type garment, sometimes even polo shirts in warm weather. While conducive to showing school spirit and having a uniform looking team, these sweater-tops were often hot, bulky, and not very functional for any type of athletic movement. The most common type of sweater worn by early cheerleaders was a long cardigan with multiple buttons, normally worn over a turtle neck shirt or collared blouse. The school letters were often sewn in either corner of the sweater, sometimes in the middle of a megaphone shape.  Worn with the sweater was a very modest ankle-length wool skirt, often a darker color than the sweater.  Some early cheerleading squads chose plaid fabrics for skirts, often these squads were from religious schools and universities, as plaid was the main fabric of their classroom uniforms.

Early cheerleading squads wore saddle shoes or flat canvas sneakers with high dress socks with their uniforms. This style of uniform continued through the 1950s and 1960s and is often depicted in movies and photos from that time period.

One of the first companies to produce cheerleading uniforms was Cheerleader Supply Company, founded in 1948. The company was founded by Lawrence "Herkie" Herkimer, of Dallas, TX,a former cheerleader at Southern Methodist University, who began selling pom pom kits to local high schools. Herkie was also the first to organize cheerleading camps and competitions.

Modern styles of cheerleading uniforms
As the focus of cheerleading shifted from an auxiliary unit, to an athletic pursuits, changes in the uniforms' material, style and fit were necessary.

1960s uniforms
As fashion styles changed through the 1960s so did the cheerleading uniform. Gone were the overly long wool skirts, as pleated shorter skirts became more popular. The long skirt was essentially chopped in half as knee length cotton fabric skirts made for easier movement and a more comfortable experience for the wearer as compared to their wool counterparts. The sweater top changed dramatically, squads elected to wear short sleeve crew neck sweaters in favor of long cardigans, however the school letters and megaphone emblem remained, now being placed in the center of the stylish crew neck sweaters. Some squads in this time period, in particular high school squads, favored placing an additional embroidered emblem with the squad member's name on the center of the school letter patch. This was a symbol of high school popularity, as it was a huge privilege to be a cheerleader

1970s uniforms

Much changed in uniform fashion from the 1960s. Most squads now wore more athletic [material] or tennis shoes. Cheerleaders wore sneakers as opposed to saddle shoes or Keds, and the uniform was made less bulky to allow for easier movement. Also more variety was available for sweaters, vests or shells and skirts. The sweater now featured a stripe pattern on the front, in alternating school colors. The letter patch became more elaborate as well, often more colorful and unique. Sweaters were also less bulky and had a more flattering fit. This new slimmed style allowed better movement and more of a functional fit, without sacrificing modesty or tradition.  Sweaters were made to fit close to the body for a tighter fit, and the length was tapered very short to  eliminate excess fabric overlapping the skirt.  Often this caused the cheerleader's bare abdomen to be exposed during movement- by now most sweaters were worn without any shirt or collared blouse beneath them.  Different styles were incorporated to give squads more of a choice.  Round neck, and v-neck sweaters were popular with squads seeking greater functionality, as cheerleading was becoming more athletic instead of the standard vocal chant.  The new sweater styles allowed squads to eliminate the extra collared blouse beneath the sweater, essentially just wearing the sweater over a bra.  While these uniforms provided a functional style, some modest women in society viewed these outfits as scandalous and racy.  The shorter skirts combined with the shorter and tighter sweaters were viewed by some as "improper."

1985–1995 uniforms
Theses uniforms are similar to the current uniforms except slouch socks especially Wigwam slouch socks were very popular to wear. Also Keds champion sneakers were worn by many cheerleaders.  A typical school cheerleading uniform from 1985 does not look much different than a uniform today.  The favored top in this period was a waist-length button-down sleeveless vest, worn with or without a turtleneck layer underneath. The vest top was a modest style, and was mostly un-revealing. Also seen as a uniform top was a turtleneck worn underneath a sweatshirt. The choice skirt remained a pleat model, but with added color striping around the bottom hem. The length style preferred was shortened to mid-thigh or slightly longer for most squads. The general rule at this time was the skirt had to be down the end of fingers when arm down at side. Bike shorts were worn underneath with some uniforms.

Current uniforms
Most uniforms are currently made from a polyester blended fabric, usually containing spandex as well. Shiny foiled covered stretch fabric is commonly found in competitive cheerleading uniforms.  Dye-sublimated uniforms have also become increasingly popular in recent years.  Dye-sublimated uniforms have a design, team name, or logo printed directly on the garment using a dye-sublimation printer and can give a cheer squad a more individual look with a lower cost.

The top without the sleeves are called shells, if they have sleeves it is called a liner. Most American school squads wear a sleeveless top with either a sports bra or an athletic tank top underneath. If the shell lacks sleeves, many teams wear a turtle neck bodysuit under it, although this is not required specifically. The bodysuits can be either leotard like or covering only to the bottom of the ribcage.  Due to guidelines imposed by the National Federation of High Schools, high school squads must have a top that covers their midriff with arms by their sides, however if the arms are raised most uniforms will show a small section of midriff, which is not against NFSHSA rules.  Most school-sanctioned squads have modest-looking uniform tops that are usually a waist-length fit, covering the whole frontal upper body except at the shoulders and arms when worn sleeveless. Likewise, the back construction of most school cheerleading tops cover the full upper body, however skin in the lower back area is mostly left uncovered if the cheerleader is sitting or bending; this does not violate NFSHSA uniform rules.  These requirements do not apply to all-star cheerleading organizations, therefore many have tops that stop at or just below the bottom of the bra line.  Another growing trend among all-star teams is having sections of material missing (allowing bare skin to show) across the top for the chest, the shoulders, the top of the back, or portions of the arms.  The length of skirts has shortened dramatically, with the average length for skirts at both high school and all-star being 10 to 13  inches, and lengths are shrinking every year, however, some coaches and various team sponsors encourage wearing shorter skirts due to safety reasons (too much fabric can be dangerous while tumbling).  Skirts are worn over top of colored or metallic spandex/polyester briefs, also called lollies, spankies, or bundies.  These briefs are worn over top of underwear and are sometimes printed with stars, dots, etc. The briefs can also sometimes have a team logo, such as a paw print, sewn on the side or across the behind.

Piercing/tattoo rules

Due to the frequency of midriff exposure with most cheerleading tops, many schools and all-star coaches prohibit navel rings (belly rings) and other piercings while a cheerleader is at a competition.  During competition, most federations also enforce such bans.  While there is no official ban on tattoos, school-sanctioned squads typically require that tattoos that could be visible in uniform, be covered with a bandage or waterproof skin shade makeup. Due to the popularity of lower back tattoos, this method is becoming increasingly commonplace.

Cheerleading uniform terminology
 Ribbons/bows

 Worn in the cheerleader's hair, which is often styled to match each other. The ribbons are usually the school's or the team's colors, and can be custom made or ordered through various companies.

 Bodysuit/bodyliner

 A leotard-like undergarment that matches the uniform colors and design, and is intended to be worn underneath the uniform shell.  Normally these are long-sleeved tops that snap at the bottom but they can be customized to the length of the shell top, either in a waist-length design or a crop-top style.  Most squads prefer to wear bodysuits during competition as it creates a uniformed look in arm movements. Waist length shells can be worn with several styles of bodyliners, in contrast to midriff shells which are limited to cropped stomach-showing liners. Full coverage bodyliners worn under a waist length shell eliminate all midriff exposure during cheering.  A cropped liner worn under a waist-length shell will cover the arms but leaves the stomach uncovered, allowing midriff skin to still show just as if the shell were to be worn alone.

 Shell/vest

 Made out of polyester and cotton, this is the main focal point of the uniform.  This is the top of the outfit which includes the design of the uniform stripes, school/team colors, and the mascot or high school insignias or school letters. Example: "Willow High School" would be "WHS".  The shell is normally sleeveless with a "V" neckline, however the neckline style can often be customized by the school or team during the uniform ordering process. The shell can either have a zipper closure in the back or side to aid in dressing, or it can have a stretchy material that allows the top to expand slightly when dressing.  The shell is designed to fit somewhat snug but not tight on the wearer—it should fit close to the body.  The shell can be worn alone over a bra or camisole, or it can be worn over-top a bodysuit of choice or a simple turtleneck. This is usually up to each squad's preference. A shell top is available in many lengths and even in somewhat intricate style cues.

 Full shell

 Usually sleeveless, and having a simple style design. It is normally waist length, ending at the top of the skirt. Typically worn alone with a bra underneath. This style top is worn by most American school squads as it is very modest and meets most dress codes, with midriff exposure limited to bare lower backs and an inch of frontal skin while the arms are raised.  The sleeveless shell, if worn alone, will normally leave the arms and shoulders open. A properly fitted shell top is essential in making the uniform look flattering for everyone on the cheer squad. A shell that is properly sized and fitted will leave enough room around the arm openings for movement, eliminating fabric rubbing against the underarms. Additionally, if the shell is sized with the correct measurements, the bottom of the hem should be long enough to meet the top of the skirt while standing stationary.  These tops can be highly customized from very ordinary to highly detailed designs. Certain cut-outs in sections of the garment are an option, as are varying hemlines for the bottom of the top. For instance, instead of a straight hem along the bottom of the top, some squads will choose a "cut-up V" hem, which leaves an upside down "V" notch open along the front, leaving slight midriff exposed at the belly button area.  This style is selected to allow for an additional color stripe along the bottom hem of the shell.

 Halter shell

 Similar in style and length as a full fitting shell top, but differing in the upper part of the garment.  This top is normally fully sleeveless, and more revealing of the upper back.  The halter style normally includes a neck strap on the top that ties in the back.

 Crop top/midriff

 This style of top is mostly used by colleges and out-of-school squads (all-star squads).  It is very revealing, and rarely worn by high school squads due to dress code violations. The top is typically worn sleeveless with only a bra underneath.  The school's or team's logo is featured in the center of the top.  The top ends right after the bra-line leaving the entire midriff of the cheerleader showing.  The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) instituted a rule against cropped uniform tops at the high school level. Most cheerleading governing bodies outlaw this top from being worn by public schools in competition, however a few middle and high schools still choose to wear this style of top at their respective non-competing events, such as football games or parades.  There has been much debate on whether it is right to have a teenage girl wearing a garment like this at a public school, as much of the body is revealed by this top.

 Skirt

 The bottom of a cheerleading uniform, with matching colors and logo/stripe design as the shell.  Skirts can be very customizable with various styles of pleat designs, or no pleats at all, such as an "A-line" skirt. The general rule of length for skirts is mid-thigh and can be sized simply by using the "fingertip" rule.  Modern skirts are offered in various rises as well.  Traditionally the skirt should be worn at the natural waistline, at the navel area.  The traditional skirt should be high enough to touch the bottom of the shell slightly.  However some squads elect to wear low-rise skirts either with longer shells or with a normal length shell creating a midriff look. Bundies must be worn under the skirt.


Duxbury Beach

Duxbury Beach is  a beach in the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts. It is six miles long and is accessed by the Powder Point Bridge from Duxbury, or Gurnet Road from Marshfield. Approximately 4.5 miles of the beach is owned by Duxbury Beach Reservation, Inc, which leases a portion of the beach out to the town of Duxbury on a yearly basis, under the circumstances that the town of Duxbury provides Harbormasters to police the area.

It is a barrier beach, defined by sand dunes, Rosa rugosa, and beach grass. It is 50 yards wide at some points, and is the sole land access to the villages of Saquish  and Gurnet Point across the town line in Plymouth, the only land area where the two towns meet. The northern residential end is protected by an Army Corps Of Engineers concrete seawall.

One of the first trans-Atlantic cables came ashore here at Rouse's Hummock, and the first call was made on it (to President James Garfield) by Napoleon III.

It is the home of the former Gurnet Classic Beach Run.

Piping plovers nest there, protected by the town's conservation officers, as well as from Duxbury Beach Reservation. There is a town beach and a public beach. The north end is developed, while the southern end is marred only by an access road.

Duxbury Beach suffers terribly in hurricanes and nor'easters. It is widely considered to be the focal point of damages in both the Blizzard of '78 and the 1991 Perfect Storm.


Cleptotypodes

Cleptotypodes is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae. It contains only one species, Cleptotypodes ledereri, which is found in France, Italy, Romania and Russia.


London West (European Parliament constituency)

Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales. The European Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had one Member of the European Parliament each.

The constituency of London West was one of them.

When it was created in England in 1979, it consisted of the Westminster Parliament constituencies of Acton, Brentford and Isleworth, Ealing North, Feltham and Heston, Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Southall and Uxbridge.

United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies were redrawn in 1983 and the European constituencies were altered in 1984 to reflect this. The revised seat comprised the following Westminster constituencies: Brentford and Isleworth, Ealing Acton, Ealing North, Ealing Southall, Feltham and Heston, Hammersmith, Richmond and Barnes and Twickenham. The same boundaries were used in 1989 and 1994.


Carl Stettler

Carl Stettler (* June 6, 1861 in Eggiwil/Switzerland, † February 1, 1920 in Memphis/Tennessee) was born at Eggiwil near Berne, Switzerland on June 6, 1861. He moved from Switzerland to the U.S. in 1886. After traveling and working across the U.S., he arrived in Alberta in 1903 and homesteaded two and a half miles east of the present town of Stettler. He founded and was the first postmaster of the Swiss and German colony of Blumenau in 1905. In the same year, the building of the railroad required moving the entire town of Blumenau to the Stettler site. Stettler became postmaster of the new town, was a (CPR) land agent there, and the town was named in his honor. He was a member of the first Town Council of Stettler. He built and owned the National Hotel in Stettler which was destroyed by fire in 1908.

After selling the property he moved east to Castor where built and owned and two other hotels and organized the Castor Coal Company. He remained in Castor until 1919.

In his final year he had moved back to Stettler. He died on 1st February 1920 while visiting Memphis, Tennessee. His remains were buried in Stettler.


Interactive Picture Systems

Interactive Picture Systems, Inc. or IPS, was a software company located in Philadelphia from 1982-1985. The company was run by partners Guy Nouri of NYC and Eric Podietz of Philadelphia. Staff included Jimmy Snyder, Mark Scott, Ken Appleman, Bob Svihovec and Chip Kaye. The products created by the company included Movie Maker for ATARI, Trains, Grandma's House, and Aerobics for Spinnaker Software for the Atari 800, C64 and Apple II platforms. Operation Frog, a virtual-dissection software for Scholastic Software, was introduced at Summer CES of 1984.  Previously, in 1982, the partners had published PAINT! for the Atari 800 platform through Reston Publishing, Reston, VA.


Bulgarian language

Bulgarian (,  ; , ) is a South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of Bulgarians.

Along with the closely related Macedonian language (collectively forming the East South Slavic languages), it is a member of the Balkan sprachbund. The two languages have several characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages: changes include the elimination of case declension, the development of a suffixed definite article and the lack of a verb infinitive, but it retains and has further developed the Proto-Slavic verb system. One such major development is the innovation of evidential verb forms to encode for the source of information: witnessed, inferred, or reported.

It is the official language of Bulgaria, and since 2007 has been among the official languages of the European Union. It is also spoken by minorities in several other countries.

History

One can divide the development of the Bulgarian language into several periods.
 The Prehistoric period covers the time between the Slavonic migration to the eastern Balkans ( 7th century CE) and the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia in the 860s.
 Old Bulgarian (9th to 11th centuries, also referred to as "Old Church Slavonic") – a literary norm of the early southern dialect of the Common Slavic language from which Bulgarian evolved. Saints Cyril and Methodius and their disciples used this norm when translating the Bible and other liturgical literature from Greek into Slavic.
 Middle Bulgarian (12th to 15th centuries) – a literary norm that evolved from the earlier Old Bulgarian, after major innovations occurred. A language of rich literary activity, it served as the official administration language of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
 Modern Bulgarian dates from the 16th century onwards, undergoing general grammar and syntax changes in the 18th and 19th centuries. The present-day written Bulgarian language was standardized on the basis of the 19th-century Bulgarian vernacular. The historical development of the Bulgarian language can be described as a transition from a highly synthetic language (Old Bulgarian) to a typical analytic language (Modern Bulgarian) with Middle Bulgarian as a midpoint in this transition.

Bulgarian was the first "Slavic" language attested in writing. As Slavic linguistic unity lasted into late antiquity, the oldest manuscripts initially referred to this language as языкъ словяньскъ, "the Slavic language". In the Middle Bulgarian period this name was gradually replaced by the name , the "Bulgarian language". In some cases, this name was used not only with regard to the contemporary Middle Bulgarian language of the copyist but also to the period of Old Bulgarian. A most notable example of anachronism is the Service of Saint Cyril from Skopje (Скопски миней), a 13th-century Middle Bulgarian manuscript from northern Macedonia according to which St. Cyril preached with "Bulgarian" books among the Moravian Slavs. The first mention of the language as the "Bulgarian language" instead of the "Slavonic language" comes in the work of the Greek clergy of the Archbishopric of Ohrid in the 11th century, for example in the Greek hagiography of Clement of Ohrid by Theophylact of Ohrid (late 11th century).

During the Middle Bulgarian period, the language underwent dramatic changes, losing the Slavonic case system, but preserving the rich verb system (while the development was exactly the opposite in other Slavic languages) and developing a definite article. It was influenced by its non-Slavic neighbors in the Balkan language area (mostly grammatically) and later also by Turkish, which was the official language of the Ottoman Empire, in the form of the Ottoman Turkish language, mostly lexically. As a national revival occurred toward the end of the period of Ottoman rule (mostly during the 19th century), a modern Bulgarian literary language gradually emerged that drew heavily on Church Slavonic/Old Bulgarian (and to some extent on literary Russian, which had preserved many lexical items from Church Slavonic) and later reduced the number of Turkish and other Balkan loans. Today one difference between Bulgarian dialects in the country and literary spoken Bulgarian is the significant presence of Old Bulgarian words and even word forms in the latter. Russian loans are distinguished from Old Bulgarian ones on the basis of the presence of specifically Russian phonetic changes, as in оборот (turnover, rev), непонятен (incomprehensible), ядро (nucleus) and others. Many other loans from French, English and the classical languages have subsequently entered the language as well.

Modern Bulgarian was based essentially on the Eastern dialects of the language, but its pronunciation is in many respects a compromise between East and West Bulgarian (see especially the phonetic sections below). Following the efforts of some figures of the National awakening of Bulgaria (most notably Neofit Rilski and Ivan Bogorov), there had been many attempts to codify a standard Bulgarian language; however, there was much argument surrounding the choice of norms. Between 1835 and 1878 more than 25 proposals were put forward and "linguistic chaos" ensued. Eventually the eastern dialects prevailed,
and in 1899 the Bulgarian Ministry of Education officially codified a standard Bulgarian language based on the Drinov-Ivanchev orthography.

Dialects

The language is mainly split into two broad dialect areas, based on the different reflexes of the Common Slavic yat vowel (Ѣ). This split, which occurred at some point during the Middle Ages, led to the development of Bulgaria's:
Western dialects (informally called твърд говор/tvurd govor – "hard speech")
the former yat is pronounced "e" in all positions. e.g. млеко (mlekò) – milk, хлеб (hleb) – bread.
Eastern dialects (informally called мек говор/mek govor – "soft speech")
the former yat alternates between "ya" and "e": it is pronounced "ya" if it is under stress and the next syllable does not contain a front vowel (e or i) – e.g. мляко (mlyàko), хляб (hlyab), and "e" otherwise – e.g. млекар (mlekàr) – milkman, хлебар (hlebàr) – baker. This rule obtains in most Eastern dialects, although some have "ya", or a special "open e" sound, in all positions.

The literary language norm, which is generally based on the Eastern dialects, also has the Eastern alternating reflex of yat. However, it has not incorporated the general Eastern umlaut of all synchronic or even historic "ya" sounds into "e" before front vowels – e.g. поляна (polyana) vs. полени (poleni) "meadow – meadows" or even жаба (zhaba) vs. жеби (zhebi) "frog – frogs", even though it co-occurs with the yat alternation in almost all Eastern dialects that have it (except a few dialects along the yat border, e.g. in the Pleven region).

More examples of the yat umlaut in the literary language are:
mlyàko (milk) [n.] → mlekàr (milkman); mlèchen (milky), etc.
syàdam (sit) [vb.] → sedàlka (seat); sedàlishte (seat, e.g. of government), etc.
svyat (holy) [adj.] → svetètz (saint); svetìlishte (sanctuary), etc. (in this example, ya/e comes not from historical yat but from small yus (ѧ), which normally becomes e in Bulgarian, but the word was influenced by Russian and the yat umlaut)

Until 1945, Bulgarian orthography did not reveal this alternation and used the original Old Slavic Cyrillic letter yat (Ѣ), which was commonly called двойно е (dvoyno e) at the time, to express the historical yat vowel or at least root vowels displaying the ya – e alternation. The letter was used in each occurrence of such a root, regardless of the actual pronunciation of the vowel: thus, both mlyako and mlekar were spelled with (Ѣ).  Among other things, this was seen as a way to "reconcile" the Western and the Eastern dialects and maintain language unity at a time when much of Bulgaria's Western dialect area was controlled by Serbia and Greece, but there were still hopes and occasional attempts to recover it. With the 1945 orthographic reform, this letter was abolished and the present spelling was introduced, reflecting the alternation in pronunciation.

This had implications for some grammatical constructions:
The third person plural pronoun and its derivatives. Before 1945 the pronoun "they" was spelled тѣ (tě), and its derivatives took this as the root. After the orthographic change, the pronoun and its derivatives were given an equal share of soft and hard spellings:
"they" – те (te) → "them" – тях (tyah);
"their(s)" – tehen (masc.); tyahna (fem.); tyahno (neut.); tehni (plur.)
adjectives received the same treatment as тѣ:
"whole" – tsyal → "the whole...": tseliyat (masc.); tsyalata (fem.); tsyaloto (neut.); tselite (plur.)

Sometimes, with the changes, words began to be spelled as other words with different meanings, e.g.:
свѣт (svět) – "world" became свят (svyat), spelt and pronounced the same as свят – "holy".
тѣ (tě) – "they" became те (te),

In spite of the literary norm regarding the yat vowel, many people living in Western Bulgaria, including the capital Sofia, will fail to observe its rules. While the norm requires the realizations vidyal vs. videli (he has seen; they have seen), some natives of Western Bulgaria will preserve their local dialect pronunciation with "e" for all instances of "yat" (e.g. videl, videli). Others, attempting to adhere to the norm, will actually use the "ya" sound even in cases where the standard language has "e" (e.g. vidyal, vidyali). The latter hypercorrection is called свръхякане (svrah-yakane ≈"over-ya-ing").

Shift from  to
Bulgarian is the only Slavic language whose literary standard does not naturally contain the iotated sound  (or its palatalized variant , except in non-Slavic foreign-loaned words). The sound is common in all modern Slavic languages (e.g. Czech medvěd  "bear", Polish pięć  "five", Serbo-Croatian jelen  "deer", Ukrainian немає  "there is not...", Macedonian пишување  "writing", etc.), as well as some Western Bulgarian dialectal forms – e.g. ора̀н’е  (standard Bulgarian: оране , "ploughing"), however it is not represented in standard Bulgarian speech or writing. Even where  occurs in other Slavic words, in Standard Bulgarian it is usually transcribed and pronounced as pure  – e.g. Boris Yeltsin is "Eltsin" (Борис Елцин), Yekaterinburg is "Ekaterinburg" (Екатеринбург) and Sarajevo is "Saraevo" (Сараево), although - because the sound is contained in a stressed syllable at the beginning of the word -  Jelena Janković is "Yelena" – Йелена Янкович.

Relationship to Macedonian

Until the period immediately following the Second World War, all Bulgarian and the majority of foreign linguists referred to the South Slavic dialect continuum spanning the area of modern Bulgaria, North Macedonia and parts of Northern Greece as a group of Bulgarian dialects. In contrast, Serbian sources tended to label them "south Serbian" dialects. Some local naming conventions included bolgárski, bugárski and so forth. The codifiers of the standard Bulgarian language, however, did not wish to make any allowances for a pluricentric "Bulgaro-Macedonian" compromise. In 1870 Marin Drinov, who played a decisive role in the standardization of the Bulgarian language, rejected the proposal of Parteniy Zografski and Kuzman Shapkarev for a mixed eastern and western Bulgarian/Macedonian foundation of the standard Bulgarian language, stating in his article in the newspaper Makedoniya: "Such an artificial assembly of written language is something impossible, unattainable and never heard of."

After 1944 the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began a policy of making Macedonia into the connecting link for the establishment of a new Balkan Federative Republic and stimulating here a development of distinct Macedonian consciousness. With the proclamation of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia as part of the Yugoslav federation, the new authorities also started measures that would overcome the pro-Bulgarian feeling among parts of its population and in 1945 a separate Macedonian language was codified. After 1958, when the pressure from Moscow decreased, Sofia reverted to the view that the Macedonian language did not exist as a separate language. Nowadays, Bulgarian and Greek linguists, as well as some linguists from other countries, still consider the various Macedonian dialects as part of the broader Bulgarian  pluricenrtric dialectal continuum. Outside Bulgaria and Greece, Macedonian is generally considered an autonomous language within the South Slavic dialect continuum. Sociolinguists agree that the question whether Macedonian is a dialect of Bulgarian or a language is a political one and cannot be resolved on a purely linguistic basis, because dialect continua do not allow for either/or judgments.

Alphabet

In 886 AD, the Bulgarian Empire introduced the Glagolitic alphabet which was devised by the Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 850s. The Glagolitic alphabet was gradually superseded in later centuries by the Cyrillic script, developed around the Preslav Literary School, Bulgaria in the 9th century.

Several Cyrillic alphabets with 28 to 44 letters were used in the beginning and the middle of the 19th century during the efforts on the codification of Modern Bulgarian until an alphabet with 32 letters, proposed by Marin Drinov, gained prominence in the 1870s. The alphabet of Marin Drinov was used until the orthographic reform of 1945, when the letters yat (uppercase Ѣ, lowercase ѣ) and yus (uppercase Ѫ, lowercase ѫ) were removed from its alphabet, reducing the number of letters to 30.

With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official script of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek scripts.

Phonology

Bulgarian possesses a phonology similar to that of the rest of the South Slavic languages, notably lacking Serbo-Croatian's phonemic vowel length and tones and alveo-palatal affricates. The eastern dialects exhibit palatalization of consonants before front vowels ( and ) and reduction of vowel phonemes in unstressed position (causing mergers of  and  ,  and  ,  and ) - both patterns have partial parallels in Russian and lead to a partly similar sound. The western dialects are like Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian in that they do not have allophonic palatalization and have only little vowel reduction.

Bulgarian has six vowel phonemes, but at least eight distinct phones can be distinguished when reduced allophones are taken into consideration.

Grammar

The parts of speech in Bulgarian are divided in ten types, which are categorized in two broad classes: mutable and immutable. The difference is that mutable parts of speech vary grammatically, whereas the immutable ones do not change, regardless of their use. The five classes of mutables are: nouns, adjectives, numerals, pronouns and verbs. Syntactically, the first four of these form the group of the noun or the nominal group. The immutables are: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, particles and interjections. Verbs and adverbs form the group of the verb or the verbal group.

Nominal morphology

Nouns and adjectives have the categories grammatical gender, number, case (only vocative) and definiteness in Bulgarian. Adjectives and adjectival pronouns agree with nouns in number and gender. Pronouns have gender and number and retain (as in nearly all Indo-European languages) a more significant part of the case system.

Nominal inflection

Gender
There are three grammatical genders in Bulgarian: masculine, feminine and neuter. The gender of the noun can largely be inferred from its ending: nouns ending in a consonant ("zero ending") are generally masculine (for example,   'city',   'son',   'man'; those ending in –а/–я (-a/-ya) (  'woman',   'daughter',   'street') are normally feminine; and nouns ending in –е, –о are almost always neuter (  'child',   'lake'), as are those rare words (usually loanwords) that end in –и, –у, and –ю (  'tsunami',   'taboo',   'menu'). Perhaps the most significant exception from the above are the relatively numerous nouns that end in a consonant and yet are feminine: these comprise, firstly, a large group of nouns with zero ending expressing quality, degree or an abstraction, including all nouns ending on –ост/–ест -{ost/est} (  'wisdom',   'vileness',   'loveliness',   'sickness',   'love'), and secondly, a much smaller group of irregular nouns with zero ending which define tangible objects or concepts (  'blood',   'bone',   'evening',   'night'). There are also some commonly used words that end in a vowel and yet are masculine:  'father',  'grandfather',  /  'uncle', and others.

The plural forms of the nouns do not express their gender as clearly as the singular ones, but may also provide some clues to it: the ending  (-i) is more likely to be used with a masculine or feminine noun (  'facts',   'sicknesses'), while one in  belongs more often to a neuter noun (  'lakes'). Also, the plural ending   occurs only in masculine nouns.

Number
Two numbers are distinguished in Bulgarian–singular and plural. A variety of plural suffixes is used, and the choice between them is partly determined by their ending in singular and partly influenced by gender; in addition, irregular declension and alternative plural forms are common. Words ending in  (which are usually feminine) generally have the plural ending , upon dropping of the singular ending. Of nouns ending in a consonant, the feminine ones also use , whereas the masculine ones usually have  for polysyllables and  for monosyllables (however, exceptions are especially common in this group). Nouns ending in  (most of which are neuter) mostly use the suffixes  (both of which require the dropping of the singular endings) and .

With cardinal numbers and related words such as  ('several'), masculine nouns use a special count form in , which stems from the Proto-Slavonic dual:  ('two/three chairs') versus  ('these chairs'); cf. feminine  ('two/three/these books') and neuter  ('two/three/these beds'). However, a recently developed language norm requires that count forms should only be used with masculine nouns that do not denote persons. Thus,  ('two/three students') is perceived as more correct than , while the distinction is retained in cases such as  ('two/three pencils') versus  ('these pencils').

Case

Cases exist only in the personal and some other pronouns (as they do in many other modern Indo-European languages), with nominative, accusative, dative and vocative forms. Vestiges are present in a number of phraseological units and sayings. The major exception are vocative forms, which are still in use for masculine (with the endings -е, -о and -ю) and feminine nouns (-[ь/й]о and -е) in the singular.

Definiteness (article)
In modern Bulgarian, definiteness is expressed by a definite article which is postfixed to the noun, much like in the Scandinavian languages or Romanian (indefinite: , 'person'; definite: , "the person") or to the first nominal constituent of definite noun phrases (indefinite: , 'a good person'; definite: , "the good person"). There are four singular definite articles. Again, the choice between them is largely determined by the noun's ending in the singular. Nouns that end in a consonant and are masculine use –ът/–ят, when they are grammatical subjects, and –а/–я elsewhere. Nouns that end in a consonant and are feminine, as well as nouns that end in –а/–я (most of which are feminine, too) use –та. Nouns that end in –е/–о use –то.

The plural definite article is –те for all nouns except for those whose plural form ends in –а/–я; these get –та instead. When postfixed to adjectives the definite articles are –ят/–я for masculine gender (again, with the longer form being reserved for grammatical subjects), –та for feminine gender, –то for neuter gender, and –те for plural.

Adjective and numeral inflection
Both groups agree in gender and number with the noun they are appended to. They may also take the definite article as explained above.

Pronouns

Pronouns may vary in gender, number, and definiteness, and are the only parts of speech that have retained case inflections. Three cases are exhibited by some groups of pronouns – nominative, accusative and dative. The distinguishable types of pronouns include the following: personal, relative, reflexive, interrogative, negative, indefinitive, summative and possessive.

Verbal morphology and grammar

The Bulgarian verb can take up to 3,000 distinct forms, as it varies in person, number, voice, aspect, mood, tense and even gender.

Finite verbal forms
Finite verbal forms are simple or compound and agree with subjects in person (first, second and third) and number (singular, plural). In addition to that, past compound forms using participles vary in gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and voice (active and passive) as well as aspect (perfective/aorist and imperfective).

Aspect
Bulgarian verbs express lexical aspect: perfective verbs signify the completion of the action of the verb and form past perfective (aorist) forms; imperfective ones are neutral with regard to it and form past imperfective forms. Most Bulgarian verbs can be grouped in perfective-imperfective pairs (imperfective/perfective:  "come",  "arrive"). Perfective verbs can be usually formed from imperfective ones by suffixation or prefixation, but the resultant verb often deviates in meaning from the original. In the pair examples above, aspect is stem-specific and therefore there is no difference in meaning.

In Bulgarian, there is also grammatical aspect. Three grammatical aspects are distinguishable: neutral, perfect and pluperfect. The neutral aspect comprises the three simple tenses and the future tense. The pluperfect is manifest in tenses that use double or triple auxiliary "be" participles like the past pluperfect subjunctive. Perfect constructions use a single auxiliary "be".

Mood
The traditional interpretation is that in addition to the four moods (наклонения ) shared by most other European languages – indicative (изявително, ) imperative (повелително ), subjunctive ( ) and conditional (условно, ) – in Bulgarian there is one more to describe a general category of unwitnessed events – the inferential (преизказно ) mood. However, most contemporary Bulgarian linguists usually exclude the subjunctive mood and the inferential mood from the list of Bulgarian moods (thus placing the number of Bulgarian moods at a total of 3: indicative, imperative and conditional) and don't consider them to be moods but view them as verbial morphosyntactic constructs or separate gramemes of the verb class. The possible existence of a few other moods has been discussed in the literature. Most Bulgarian school grammars teach the traditional view of 4 Bulgarian moods (as described above, but excluding the subjunctive and including the inferential).

Tense
There are three grammatically distinctive positions in time – present, past and future – which combine with aspect and mood to produce a number of formations. Normally, in grammar books these formations are viewed as separate tenses – i. e. "past imperfect" would mean that the verb is in past tense, in the imperfective aspect, and in the indicative mood (since no other mood is shown). There are more than 40 different tenses across Bulgarian's two aspects and five  moods.

In the indicative mood, there are three simple tenses:
Present tense is a temporally unmarked simple form made up of the verbal stem and a complex suffix composed of the thematic vowel ,  or  and the person/number ending (, , "I arrive/I am arriving"); only imperfective verbs can stand in the present indicative tense independently;
Past imperfect is a simple verb form used to express an action which is contemporaneous or subordinate to other past actions; it is made up of an imperfective or a perfective verbal stem and the person/number ending ( ,  , 'I was arriving');
Past aorist is a simple form used to express a temporarily independent, specific past action; it is made up of a perfective or an imperfective verbal stem and the person/number ending (, , 'I arrived', , , 'I read');

In the indicative there are also the following compound tenses:
Future tense is a compound form made of the particle   and present tense ( , 'I will study'); negation is expressed by the construction   and present tense ( , or the old-fashioned form ,  'I will not study');
Past future tense is a compound form used to express an action which was to be completed in the past but was future as regards another past action; it is made up of the past imperfect of the verb   ('will'), the particle   ('to') and the present tense of the verb (e.g. , , 'I was going to study');
Present perfect is a compound form used to express an action which was completed in the past but is relevant for or related to the present; it is made up of the present tense of the verb съм  ('be') and the past participle (e.g.  , 'I have studied');
Past perfect is a compound form used to express an action which was completed in the past and is relative to another past action; it is made up of the past tense of the verb съм and the past participle (e.g.  , 'I had studied');
Future perfect is a compound form used to express an action which is to take place in the future before another future action; it is made up of the future tense of the verb съм and the past participle (e.g.  , 'I will have studied');
Past future perfect is a compound form used to express a past action which is future with respect to a past action which itself is prior to another past action; it is made up of the past imperfect of , the particle  the present tense of the verb съм and the past participle of the verb (e.g. , , 'I would have studied').

The four perfect constructions above can vary in aspect depending on the aspect of the main-verb participle; they are in fact pairs of imperfective and perfective aspects. Verbs in forms using past participles also vary in voice and gender.

There is only one simple tense in the imperative mood, the present, and there are simple forms only for the second-person singular, -и/-й (-i, -y/i), and plural, -ете/-йте (-ete, -yte), e.g. уча  ('to study'):  , sg.,  , pl.;   'to play':  ,  . There are compound imperative forms for all persons and numbers in the present compound imperative (, ), the present perfect compound imperative (, ) and the rarely used present pluperfect compound imperative (, ).

The conditional mood consists of five compound tenses, most of which are not grammatically distinguishable. The present, future and past conditional use a special past form of the stem би- (bi – "be") and the past participle (, , 'I would study'). The past future conditional and the past future perfect conditional coincide in form with the respective indicative tenses.

The subjunctive mood is rarely documented as a separate verb form in Bulgarian, (being, morphologically, a sub-instance of the quasi-infinitive construction with the particle да and a normal finite verb form), but nevertheless it is used regularly. The most common form, often mistaken for the present tense, is the present subjunctive ( , 'I had better go'). The difference between the present indicative and the present subjunctive tense is that the subjunctive can be formed by both perfective and imperfective verbs. It has completely replaced the infinitive and the supine from complex expressions (see below). It is also employed to express opinion about possible future events. The past perfect subjunctive ( , 'I'd had better be gone') refers to possible events in the past, which did not take place, and the present pluperfect subjunctive ( ), which may be used about both past and future events arousing feelings of incontinence, suspicion, etc. and has no perfect English translation.

The inferential mood has five pure tenses. Two of them are simple – past aorist inferential and past imperfect inferential – and are formed by the past participles of perfective and imperfective verbs, respectively. There are also three compound tenses – past future inferential, past future perfect inferential and past perfect inferential. All these tenses' forms are gender-specific in the singular. There are also conditional and compound-imperative crossovers. The existence of inferential forms has been attributed to Turkic influences by most Bulgarian linguists. Morphologically, they are derived from the perfect.

Non-finite verbal forms
Bulgarian has the following participles:
Present active participle (сегашно деятелно причастие) is formed from imperfective stems with the addition of the suffixes –ащ/–ещ/–ящ (четящ, 'reading') and is used only attributively;
Present passive participle (сегашно страдателно причастие) is formed by the addition of the suffixes -им/аем/уем (четим, 'that can be read, readable');
Past active aorist participle (минало свършено деятелно причастие) is formed by the addition of the suffix –л– to perfective stems (чел, '[have] read');
Past active imperfect participle (минало несвършено деятелно причастие) is formed by the addition of the suffixes –ел/–ал/–ял to imperfective stems (четял, '[have been] reading');
Past passive aorist participle (минало свършено страдателно причастие) is formed from aorist/perfective stems with the addition of the suffixes -н/–т (прочетен, 'read'; убит, 'killed'); it is used predicatively and attributively;
Past passive imperfect participle (минало несвършено страдателно причастие) is formed from imperfective stems with the addition of the suffix –н (прочитан, '[been] read'; убиван, '[been] being killed'); it is used predicatively and attributively;
Adverbial participle (деепричастие) is usually formed from imperfective present stems with the suffix –(е)йки (четейки, 'while reading'), relates an action contemporaneous with and subordinate to the main verb and is originally a Western Bulgarian form.

The participles are inflected by gender, number, and definiteness, and are coordinated with the subject when forming compound tenses (see tenses above). When used in attributive role the inflection attributes are coordinated with the noun that is being attributed.

Reflexive verbs
Bulgarian uses reflexive verbal forms (i.e. actions which are performed by the agent onto him- or herself) which behave in a similar way as they do in many other Indo-European languages, such as French and Spanish. The reflexive is expressed by the invariable particle se, originally a clitic form of the accusative reflexive pronoun. Thus –
miya – I wash, miya se – I wash myself, miesh se – you wash yourself
pitam – I ask, pitam se – I ask myself, pitash se – you ask yourself
When the action is performed on others, other particles are used, just like in any normal verb, e.g. –
miya te – I wash you
pitash me – you ask me
Sometimes, the reflexive verb form has a similar but not necessarily identical meaning to the non-reflexive verb –
kazvam – I say, kazvam se – my name is (lit. "I call myself")
vizhdam – I see, vizhdame se – "we see ourselves" or "we meet each other"
In other cases, the reflexive verb has a completely different meaning from its non-reflexive counterpart –
karam – to drive, karam se – to have a row with someone
gotvya – to cook, gotvya se – to get ready
smeya – to dare, smeya se – to laugh
Indirect actions
When the action is performed on an indirect object, the particles change to si and its derivatives –
kazvam si – I say to myself, kazvash si – you say to yourself, kazvam ti – I say to you
peya si – I am singing to myself, pee si – she is singing to herself, pee mu – she is singing to him
gotvya si – I cook for myself, gotvyat si – they cook for themselves, gotvya im – I cook for them
In some cases, the particle si is ambiguous between the indirect object and the possessive meaning  –
miya si ratsete – I wash my hands, miya ti ratsete – I wash your hands
pitam si priyatelite – I ask my friends, pitam ti priyatelite – I ask your friends
iskam si topkata – I want my ball (back)
The difference between transitive and intransitive verbs can lead to significant differences in meaning with minimal change, e.g. –haresvash me – you like me, haresvash mi – I like you (lit. you are pleasing to me)otivam – I am going, otivam si – I am going home
The particle si is often used to indicate a more personal relationship to the action, e.g. –haresvam go – I like him, haresvam si go – no precise translation, roughly translates as "he's really close to my heart"stanahme priyateli – we became friends, stanahme si priyateli – same meaning, but sounds friendliermislya – I am thinking (usually about something serious), mislya si – same meaning, but usually about something personal and/or trivial

Adverbs
The most productive way to form adverbs is to derive them from the neuter singular form of the corresponding adjective—e.g.  (fast),  (hard),  (strange)—but adjectives ending in  use the masculine singular form (i.e. ending in ), instead—e.g.  (heroically),  (bravely, like a man),  (skillfully). The same pattern is used to form adverbs from the (adjective-like) ordinal numerals, e.g.  (firstly),  (secondly),  (thirdly), and in some cases from (adjective-like) cardinal numerals, e.g.  (twice as/double),  (three times as),  (five times as).

The remaining adverbs are formed in ways that are no longer productive in the language. A small number are original (not derived from other words), for example:  (here),  (there),  (inside),  (outside),  (very/much) etc. The rest are mostly fossilized case forms, such as:
Archaic locative forms of some adjectives, e.g.  (well),  (badly),  (too, rather), and nouns  (up),  (tomorrow),  (in the summer)
Archaic instrumental forms of some adjectives, e.g.  (quietly),  (furtively),  (blindly), and nouns, e.g.  (during the day),  (during the night),  (one next to the other),  (spiritually),  (in figures),  (with words); or verbs:  (while running),  (while lying),  (while standing)
Archaic accusative forms of some nouns:  (today),  (tonight),  (in the morning),  (in winter)
Archaic genitive forms of some nouns:  (tonight),  (last night),  (yesterday)
Homonymous and etymologically identical to the feminine singular form of the corresponding adjective used with the definite article:  (hard),  (gropingly); the same pattern has been applied to some verbs, e.g.  (while running),  (while lying),  (while standing)
Derived from cardinal numerals by means of a non-productive suffix:  (once),  (twice),  (thrice)

Adverbs can sometimes be reduplicated to emphasize the qualitative or quantitative properties of actions, moods or relations as performed by the subject of the sentence: "" ("rather slowly"), "" ("with great difficulty"), "" ("quite", "thoroughly").

Syntax
Bulgarian employs clitic doubling, mostly for emphatic purposes. For example, the following constructions are common in colloquial Bulgarian:

(lit. "I gave it the present to Maria.")

(lit. "I gave her it the present to Maria.")

The phenomenon is practically obligatory in the spoken language in the case of inversion signalling information structure (in writing, clitic doubling may be skipped in such instances, with a somewhat bookish effect):

(lit. "The present [to her] it I-gave to Maria.")

(lit. "To Maria to her [it] I-gave the present.")

Sometimes, the doubling signals syntactic relations, thus:

(lit. "Petar and Ivan them ate the wolves.")
Transl.: "Petar and Ivan were eaten by the wolves".

This is contrasted with:

(lit. "Petar and Ivan ate the wolves")
Transl.: "Petar and Ivan ate the wolves".

In this case, clitic doubling can be a colloquial alternative of the more formal or bookish passive voice, which would be constructed as follows:

(lit. "Petar and Ivan were eaten by the wolves.")

Clitic doubling is also fully obligatory, both in the spoken and in the written norm, in clauses including several special expressions that use the short accusative and dative pronouns such as "" (I feel like playing), студено ми е (I am cold), and боли ме ръката (my arm hurts):

(lit. "To me to me it-feels-like-sleeping, and to Ivan to him it-feels-like-playing")
Transl.: "I feel like sleeping, and Ivan feels like playing."

(lit. "To us to us it-is cold, and to you-plur. to you-plur. it-is warm")
Transl.: "We are cold, and you are warm."

(lit. Ivan him aches the throat, and me me aches the head)
Transl.: Ivan has sore throat, and I have a headache.

Except the above examples, clitic doubling is considered inappropriate in a formal context.

Other features

Questions
Questions in Bulgarian which do not use a question word (such as who? what? etc.) are formed with the particle ли after the verb; a subject is not necessary, as the verbal conjugation suggests who is performing the action:
 – 'you are coming';  – 'are you coming?'

While the particle  generally goes after the verb, it can go after a noun or adjective if a contrast is needed:
 – 'are you coming with us?';
 – 'are you coming with us'?
A verb is not always necessary, e.g. when presenting a choice:
 – 'him?';  – 'the yellow one?'

Rhetorical questions can be formed by adding  to a question word, thus forming a "double interrogative" –
 – 'Who?';  – 'I wonder who(?)'
The same construction +не ('no') is an emphasized positive –
 – 'Who was there?' –  – 'Nearly everyone!' (lit. 'I wonder who wasn't there')

Significant verbs

Съм

The verb   – 'to be' is also used as an auxiliary for forming the perfect, the passive and the conditional:
past tense –  – 'I have hit'
passive –  – 'I am hit'
past passive –  – 'I was hit'
conditional –  – 'I would hit'

Two alternate forms of  exist:
  – interchangeable with съм in most tenses and moods, but never in the present indicative – e.g.  ('I want to be'),  ('I will be here'); in the imperative, only бъда is used –  ('be here');
  – slightly archaic, imperfective form of бъда – e.g.  ('he used to get threats'); in contemporary usage, it is mostly used in the negative to mean "ought not", e.g.  ('you shouldn't smoke').

Ще

The impersonal verb  (lit. 'it wants') is used to for forming the (positive) future tense:
 – 'I am going'
 – 'I will be going'
The negative future is formed with the invariable construction   (see  below):
 – 'I will not be going'
The past tense of this verb – щях  is conjugated to form the past conditional ('would have' – again, with да, since it is irrealis):
 – 'I would have gone;'  'you would have gone'

Имам and нямам

The verbs   ('to have') and   ('to not have'):
the third person singular of these two can be used impersonally to mean 'there is/there are' or 'there isn't/aren't any,'  e.g.
 ('there is still time' – compare Spanish hay);
 ('there is no one there').
The impersonal form няма is used in the negative future – (see ще above).
 used on its own can mean simply 'I won't' – a simple refusal to a suggestion or instruction.

Conjunctions and particles
But

In Bulgarian, there are several conjunctions all translating into English as "but", which are all used in distinct situations. They are  (),  (),  (),  (), and  () (and  () – "however", identical in use to ).

While there is some overlapping between their uses, in many cases they are specific. For example,  is used for a choice –  – "not this one, but that one" (compare Spanish ), while  is often used to provide extra information or an opinion –  – "I said it, but I was wrong". Meanwhile,  provides contrast between two situations, and in some sentences can even be translated as "although", "while" or even "and" –  – "I'm working, and he's daydreaming".

Very often, different words can be used to alter the emphasis of a sentence – e.g. while  and  both mean "I smoke, but I shouldn't", the first sounds more like a statement of fact ("...but I mustn't"), while the second feels more like a judgement ("...but I oughtn't"). Similarly,  and  both mean "I don't want to, but he does", however the first emphasizes the fact that he wants to, while the second emphasizes the wanting rather than the person.

 is interesting in that, while it feels archaic, it is often used in poetry and frequently in children's stories, since it has quite a moral/ominous feel to it.

Some common expressions use these words, and some can be used alone as interjections:
 (lit. "yes, but no") – means "you're wrong to think so".
 can be tagged onto a sentence to express surprise:  – "he's sleeping!"
 – "you don't say!", "really!"

Vocative particles

Bulgarian has several abstract particles which are used to strengthen a statement. These have no precise translation in English. The particles are strictly informal and can even be considered rude by some people and in some situations. They are mostly used at the end of questions or instructions.
 () – the most common particle. It can be used to strengthen a statement or, sometimes, to indicate derision of an opinion, aided by the tone of voice. (Originally purely masculine, it can now be used towards both men and women.)
 – tell me (insistence);  – is that so? (derisive);  – you don't say!.
 ( – expresses urgency, sometimes pleading.
 – come on, get up!
 () (feminine only) – originally simply the feminine counterpart of , but today perceived as rude and derisive (compare the similar evolution of the vocative forms of feminine names).
 (, masculine),  (, feminine) – similar to  and , but archaic. Although informal, can sometimes be heard being used by older people.

Modal particles

These are "tagged" on to the beginning or end of a sentence to express the mood of the speaker in relation to the situation. They are mostly interrogative or slightly imperative in nature. There is no change in the grammatical mood when these are used (although they may be expressed through different grammatical moods in other languages).
 () – is a universal affirmative tag, like "isn't it"/"won't you", etc. (it is invariable, like the French ). It can be placed almost anywhere in the sentence, and does not always require a verb:
 – you are coming, aren't you?;  – didn't they want to?;  – that one, right?;
it can express quite complex thoughts through simple constructions –  – "I thought you weren't going to!" or "I thought there weren't any!" (depending on context – the verb  presents general negation/lacking, see "nyama", above).
 () – expresses uncertainty (if in the middle of a clause, can be translated as "whether") – e.g.  – "do you think he will come?"
 () – presents disbelief ~"don't tell me that..." – e.g.  – "don't tell me you want to!". It is slightly archaic, but still in use. Can be used on its own as an interjection –
 () – expresses hope –  – "he will come";  – "I hope he comes" (compare Spanish ). Grammatically,  is entirely separate from the verb  – "to hope".
 () – means "let('s)" – e.g.  – "let him come"; when used in the first person, it expresses extreme politeness:  – "let us go" (in colloquial situations, , below, is used instead).
, as an interjection, can also be used to express judgement or even schadenfreude –  – "he deserves it!".

Intentional particles

These express intent or desire, perhaps even pleading. They can be seen as a sort of cohortative side to the language. (Since they can be used by themselves, they could even be considered as verbs in their own right.) They are also highly informal.
 () – "come on", "let's"
e.g.  – "faster!"
 () – "let me" – exclusively when asking someone else for something. It can even be used on its own as a request or instruction (depending on the tone used), indicating that the speaker wants to partake in or try whatever the listener is doing.
 – let me see;  or  – "let me.../give me..."
 () (plural ) – can be used to issue a negative instruction – e.g.  – "don't come" ( + subjunctive). In some dialects, the construction  ( + preterite) is used instead. As an interjection –  – "don't!" (See section on imperative mood).

These particles can be combined with the vocative particles for greater effect, e.g.  (let me see), or even exclusively in combinations with them, with no other elements, e.g.  (come on!);  (I told you not to!).

Pronouns of quality
Bulgarian has several pronouns of quality which have no direct parallels in English – kakav (what sort of); takuv (this sort of); onakuv (that sort of – colloq.); nyakakav (some sort of); nikakav (no sort of); vsyakakav (every sort of); and the relative pronoun kakavto (the sort of ... that ... ). The adjective ednakuv ("the same") derives from the same radical.

Example phrases include:kakav chovek?! – "what person?!"; kakav chovek e toy? – what sort of person is he?ne poznavam takuv – "I don't know any (people like that)" (lit. "I don't know this sort of (person)")nyakakvi hora – lit. "some type of people", but the understood meaning is "a bunch of people I don't know"vsyakakvi hora – "all sorts of people"kakav iskash? – "which type do you want?"; nikakav! – "I don't want any!"/"none!"

An interesting phenomenon is that these can be strung along one after another in quite long constructions, e.g.

An extreme (colloquial) sentence, with almost no physical meaning in it whatsoever – yet which does have perfect meaning to the Bulgarian ear – would be :
"kakva e taya takava edna nyakakva nikakva?!"
inferred translation – "what kind of no-good person is she?"
literal translation: "what kind of – is – this one here (she) – this sort of – one – some sort of – no sort of"
—Note: the subject of the sentence is simply the pronoun "taya" (lit. "this one here"; colloq. "she").

Another interesting phenomenon that is observed in colloquial speech is the use of takova (neuter of takyv) not only as a substitute for an adjective, but also as a substitute for a verb. In that case the base form takova is used as the third person singular in the present indicative and all other forms are formed by analogy to other verbs in the language. Sometimes the "verb" may even acquire a derivational prefix that changes its meaning. Examples:
 takovah ti shapkata – I did something to your hat (perhaps: I took your hat)
 takovah si ochilata – I did something to my glasses (perhaps: I lost my glasses)
 takovah se – I did something to myself (perhaps: I hurt myself)
Another use of takova in colloquial speech is the word takovata, which can be used as a substitution for a noun, but also, if the speaker doesn't remember or is not sure how to say something, they might say takovata and then pause to think about it:
 i posle toy takovata... – and then he [no translation] ...
 izyadoh ti takovata – I ate something of yours (perhaps: I ate your dessert). Here the word takovata is used as a substitution for a noun.
Similar "meaningless" expressions are extremely common in spoken Bulgarian, especially when the speaker is finding it difficult to describe something.

Miscellaneous
The commonly cited phenomenon of Bulgarian people shaking their head for "yes" and nodding for "no" is true but, with the influence of Western culture, ever rarer, and almost non-existent among the younger generation. (The shaking and nodding are not identical to the Western gestures. The "nod" for no is actually an upward movement of the head rather than a downward one, while the shaking of the head for yes is not completely horizontal, but also has a slight "wavy" aspect to it.)
A dental click  (similar to the English "tsk") also means "no" (informal), as does ъ-ъ  (the only occurrence in Bulgarian of the glottal stop). The two are often said with the upward 'nod'.
Bulgarian has an extensive vocabulary covering family relationships. The biggest range of words is for uncles and aunts, e.g. chicho (your father's brother), vuicho (your mother's brother), svako (your aunt's husband); an even larger number of synonyms for these three exists in the various dialects of Bulgarian, including kaleko, lelincho, tetin, etc. The words do not only refer to the closest members of the family (such as brat – brother, but batko/bate – older brother, sestra – sister, but kaka – older sister), but extend to its furthest reaches, e.g. badzhanak from Turkish bacanak (the relationship of the husbands of two sisters to each other) and etarva (the relationships of two brothers' wives to each other). For all in-laws, there are specific names, e.g. a woman's husband's brother is her dever and her husband's sister is her zalva. In the traditional rural extended family before 1900, there existed separate subcategories for different brothers-in-law/sisters-in-law of a woman with regard to their age relative to hers, e.g. instead of simply a dever there could be a braino (older), a draginko (younger), or an ubavenkyo (who is still a child).
As with many Slavic languages, the double negative in Bulgarian is grammatically correct, while some forms of it, when used instead of a single negative form, are grammatically incorrect. The following are literal translations of grammatically correct Bulgarian sentences that utilize a double or multiple negation: "Никой никъде никога нищо не е направил." (multiple negation without the use of a compound double negative form, i.e. using a listing of several successive single negation words) – "Nobody never nowhere nothing did not do." (translated as "nobody has ever done anything, anywhere"); "Никога не съм бил там." (double negation without the use of a compound double negative form, i.e. using a listing of several successive single negation words) – I never did not go there ("[I] have never been there"); Никога никакви чувства не съм имал! – I never no feelings had not have!  (I have never had any feelings!). The same applies for Macedonian.

Vocabulary

Most of the vocabulary  of modern Bulgarian consists of terms inherited from Proto-Slavic and local Bulgarian innovations and formations of those through the mediation of Old and Middle Bulgarian. The native terms in Bulgarian account for 70% to 80% of the lexicon.

The remaining 25% to 30% are loanwords from a number of languages, as well as derivations of such words. Bulgarian adopted also a few words of Thracian and Bulgar origin. The languages which have contributed most to Bulgarian are Russian, French and to a lesser extent English and Ottoman Turkish. Also Latin and Greek are the source of many words, used mostly in international terminology. Many Latin terms entered the language through Romanian, Aromanian, and Megleno-Romanian during Bulgarian Empires (present-day Bulgaria was part of Roman Empire), loanwords of Greek origin in Bulgarian are a product of the influence of the liturgical language of the Orthodox Church. Many of the numerous loanwords from another Turkic language, Ottoman Turkish (and, via Ottoman Turkish, from Arabic and Persian) which were adopted into Bulgarian during the long period of Ottoman rule, have been replaced with native terms. In addition, both specialized (usually coming from the field of science) and commonplace English words (notably abstract, commodity/service-related or technical terms) have also penetrated Bulgarian since the second half of the 20th century, especially since 1989. A noteworthy portion of this English-derived terminology has attained some unique features in the process of its introduction to native speakers, and this has resulted in peculiar derivations that set the newly formed loanwords apart from the original words (mainly in pronunciation), although many loanwords are completely identical to the source words. A growing number of international neologisms are also being widely adopted, causing controversy between younger generations who, in general, are raised in the era of digital globalization, and the older, more conservative educated purists. Prior to standardization in the 19th century, after a period of Ottoman Turkish as a lingua franca  for about 5 centuries,  vernacular Bulgarian is estimated to have been consisted of 50% Ottoman vocabulary, which contained predominantly (up to 80%) Arabic and Persian words.


Lviv Academic Gymnasium

Lviv Academic Gymnasium at the National University "Lviv Polytechnic" (ukr. Львівська академічна гімназія) - the oldest high school in Lviv, Ukraine based on the order of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, on October 24, 1784. The building of Gymnasium located on the street Stepan Bandera, 14 on the left of the main building of Lviv Polytechnic. Vasyl Il'nyts'ky was the first director of gymnasium.

Faculty members
 Paulin Święcicki, a Ukrainian language instructor from Kiev Governorate

Links
  ukr.


Connotation (semiotics)

This word has distinct meanings in logic, philosophy, and common usage.  See connotation.

In semiotics, connotation arises when the denotative relationship between a signifier and its signified is inadequate to serve the needs of the community. A second level of meanings is termed connotative. These meanings are not objective representations of the thing, but new usages produced by the language group.

Discussion
Drawing from the original definition proposed by Saussure (1857–1913), a sign has two parts:
as a signifier, i.e. it will have a form that a person can see, touch, smell, or hear, and
as the signified, i.e. it will represent an idea or mental construct of a thing rather than the thing itself.
Connotative meanings are developed by the community and do not represent the inherent qualities of the thing or concept originally signified as the meaning. The addition of such meanings introduces complexity into the coding system. If a signifier has only a single denotational meaning, the use of the sign will always be unambiguously decoded by the audience. But connotative meanings are context-dependent, i.e. the addresser must  learn how to match the meaning intended by the addresser to one of the various possible meanings held in memory.

The power of connotation is that it enables the addresser to more easily consider abstract concepts and to introduce subtlety into the discourse. For example, a digital thermometer produces a numerical value that indicates the current state of a specific operational parameter. This technology provides an indexical sign of heat (adopting the classification of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), an indexical sign by real connection between the signifier and the signified). The number is a denotative value, i.e. it speaks only for itself. The doctor, nurse or patient will relate to the number as a visual trope, in this case a metaphor, for the health of the body. Such information adds to other data forming a symptomology for the patient, a summation that takes place at a connotative cognitive level. Hence, the meanings as to health or illness are selected from the connotational framework which the interpreter has constructed through training and experience given that each possible state of well-being is represented by a cluster of symbolic attributes, one of which is the patient's temperature.

Connotation is concerned with how the sign system is used in each message. The semantic content is selected by the addresser and represents that individual's values and intentions. Limiting an analysis purely to the sign system comprised by paradigms and syntagms excludes key elements in the interpretive process. Thus, subjective tests such as the commutation test have been developed to map connotations and so decode more of the addresser's intentions. This is achieved by changing the form of the signifiers, by substituting signifiers to assess what the alternative connotations would be and by considering what signifiers are absent and why their absences might be significant. Changes of form would require substituting different fonts for the same text, or different colours or designs for the same visual content. The use of synonyms and antonyms clarifies connotational choices as between, say, pejorative and euphemistic usages. As to absences, if a modern image of a group of people employed in a major public enterprise only contains individuals of the same gender and ethnicity, the analyst would enquire into the significance of the exclusion of those of the opposite gender and a different ethnicity. The editorial decision may be supporting social values, attitudes and beliefs that are embedded into the culture—for example, that nations ought to conscript only men to serve on the front-lines of a war. Other explanations of different contexts may expose cultural myths and prejudices which are less reasonable.


Baker Canyon Fire

The Baker Canyon Fire was wildfire that began on March 3, 2016 northeast of Douglas, Arizona. By the time the fire was contained it had burned  of land in both Arizona and New Mexico.


1998 Temple Owls football team

The 1998 Temple Owls football team represented Temple University in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season; they competed in the Big East Conference. They were led by first–year head coach Bobby Wallace. The Owls played their home games at Veterans Stadium and Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They finished with a record of 2 wins and 9 losses (2–9).

Schedule


Grand Lodge of Texas

The Grand Lodge of Texas, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons is the largest of several governing bodies of Freemasonry in the State of Texas, being solely of the Ancients' tradition and descending from the Ancient Grand Lodge of England, founded in 1751. According to historian James D. Carter, it was founded as "The Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, A.F. & A.M." on 16 April 1838. However, its first Grand Master and other grand officers were installed by Sam Houston on 11 May 1838. The Grand Lodge of Texas is one of the largest in the world, reporting 69,099 members in 2019. The current Grand Lodge of Texas facilities were made possible by the fundraising efforts of Waco Masonic Lodge No. 92.

History

Early History of Freemasonry
Freemasonry has its historic origins among the early lodges of stonemasons and architects that, utilizing the style of Gothic architecture, built the cathedrals of Middle Ages. They were called "Freemasons" because they were free men and not serfs, their lodges were free from taxation, and they worked in freestone, a type of quarry stone. During the 17th century, lodges in Scotland began "accepting" members who were not operative stonemasons. The acceptance of these gentlemen Freemasons gave rise to the name "Free and Accepted Masons." In their ceremonies of passing from one degree to another they inculcated a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by the symbols and tools of their craft. During the 18th century, lodges formed grand lodges to govern the craft. No longer operative as of old, Masonic lodges continued without interruption to observe the customs and traditions of the fraternity for the "benefit of mankind."

Freemasonry in America
The early American colonial lodges were chartered by the grand lodges of Europe. Many of the founders of the United States and their allies were Freemasons:  George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben and others. Washington was the Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 when he consecrated the cornerstone (see "foundation stone") of the United States Capitol in 1793.

Early Masonry in Texas
On 11 February 1828, Stephen F. Austin called a meeting of Masons at San Felipe de Austin for the purpose of petitioning the York Grand Lodge of Mexico for a charter to form a lodge. Although the petition reached Matamoros, and was to be forwarded to Mexico City, nothing more was heard of it. By 1828 the ruling faction in Mexico City feared that the liberal elements in Texas might attempt to gain independence, and being aware of the political philosophies of English-speaking Freemasons, the Mexican government outlawed Freemasonry on 25 October of that year. The following year, Austin called another meeting of Masons who, in an attempt to alleviate the fears of the Mexican government, decided it was "impolitic and imprudent, at this time, to form Masonic lodges in Texas."

In March 1835, five Master Masons met "in a little grove of peach or laurel" at the town of Brazoria, "near a place known as General John Austin's," and resolved to petition Grand Master John H. Holland of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana asking for a dispensation to form a lodge in Texas. Foremost among these five Masons was Anson Jones who would later serve as Grand Master, and as President of the Republic of Texas.

That charter, creating Holland Lodge No. 1, was issued and signed on 27 January 1835. It was given to a Mr. John M. Allen, originally of Louisiana Lodge No. 32 to carry to Texas. Allen had been recruiting volunteers for the Texas Army in New Orleans, and would not reach Texas until just before the Battle of San Jacinto on 21 April 1836.

Freemasons and the Texas Revolution

Meanwhile, Texas was in the midst of war. The first shots of the Texas Revolution had been fired in October 1835 at Gonzales. Delegates had gathered at the small town of Washington-on-the-Brazos and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on 2 March 1836. The Mexican Army under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had crossed the Rio Grande and attacked and defeated the small garrison at the Alamo in San Antonio de Bexar. Among the nearly 200 defenders who died at the Alamo were Freemasons James Bonham, James Bowie, David Crockett, Almaron Dickenson, and William Barrett Travis.

There has existed for many years the story or myth that General Santa Anna, captured on 21 April 1836 after the defeat of the Mexican Army after the Battle of San Jacinto, was able to save himself from execution by giving secret "Masonic signs" when he was captured, and again when he was brought before General Sam Houston. Texas historian James D. Carter recorded in his book, Masonry in Texas, that "Texas Masons contemporary with [the Battle of] San Jacinto stated emphatically that Santa Anna 'filled the air' with Masonic signs after his capture and had given a Masonic grip to Houston." C.R. Wharton, in his book, El Presidente, stated that "Santa Anna, fearing for his life, gave the Masonic distress signal to John A. Wharton." Santa Anna probably knew the appropriate grips and signs, since he was a member of the Scottish Rite in Mexico, which had become dominated by men devoted to Mexican government centralization. Within Mexico, opposition to the centralists found itself organized around Mexico's York Rite establishment, although by 1833, both had mostly been displaced in popularity by a "Mexican National Rite", although Santa Anna kept his Scottish Rite associates around him. Whether or not this specifically saved his life is not clear. What is certain is that Santa Anna was worth more to Texas alive than dead. President Andrew Jackson, a member of the same Masonic lodge as Sam Houston, Cumberland Lodge No. 8 at Nashville, Tennessee, wrote to Houston and implored him to spare Santa Anna's life, reminding Houston that "while he is in your power, the difficulties of your enemy, in raising another army, will be great.... Let not his blood be shed, unless imperious necessity demands it.... Both wisdom and humanity enjoin this course in relation to Santa Anna."

Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas
The Masonic Convention of December 1837:  By the end of 1837, three lodges had been chartered in Texas by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana:  Holland Lodge No. 1 which had moved to the city of Houston, Milam Lodge No. 2 at Nacogdoches, and McFarland Lodge No. 3 at St. Augustine. On 20 December 1837, Sam Houston, President of the Republic of Texas, presided over a convention meeting in the city of Houston consisting of the representatives of these three lodges. The representatives were:  From Holland Lodge:  Sam Houston, Anson Jones, Jeff Wright, and Thomas G. Western;  from Milam Lodge: Thomas J. Rusk, I. W. Burton, Charles S. Taylor, Adolphus Sterne, and K. H. Douglas; and from McFarland Lodge:  G. H. Winchell was delegated to represent McFarland Lodge. The representatives there assembled resolved to form a "Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas," and to that end they elected Anson Jones as the first Grand Master of Masons in Texas, and other officers. After approving a resolution that the first meeting of the Grand Lodge should be held "on the third Monday of April next," the convention was then adjourned. It is clear from the minutes of this convention that, although a Grand Master was elected, he was not yet installed, and although a resolution to form a Grand Lodge was approved by the convention, it had not yet done so. The birthdate of the new Grand Lodge was still four months away.

The Grand Lodge is Born - 16 April 1838:  As the delegates to the previous convention had agreed, they met again on the third Monday, the 16th of April 1838 in the city of Houston, although only three of the six elective grand officers were in attendance:  the Grand Master-elect, the Senior Grand Warden-elect, and the Grand Treasurer-elect. Nevertheless, the minutes state that the "Grand Lodge was opened in ample form," and, according to Texas historian James D. Carter, "the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana was ended," making 16 April 1838 the birthdate of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. It may be of some historical interest to note that three and one-half weeks later, on 11 May 1838, the Grand Lodge met again and installed the Grand Master and his officers. As a result, this latter date, 11 May 1838, is the birthdate of the Grand Lodge given in Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia.<ref>Coil, Henry W. (1961).  Article:  "Texas", pg. 651.  Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia (rev. ed. 1996). Richmond, Va: Macoy Publ. Co.</ref>

Early Texas Lodges
The following is a list of 29 lodges organized under the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. They are listed along with their final charter dates and original locations:

  - Demised.
  - Demised, but charter restored at or near original location.
  - Now working as Redland Lodge No. 3.
  - U.D. but Never Working but later granted a charter on January 2, 1920 at or near original location.
  - Demised 1847, but Charter Restored 2 August 2006 at West Columbia, TX
  - Demised, but charter restored December 2005 near Sealy, TX

Famous Texas Freemasons
 Stephen F. Austin - Father of Texas - Louisiana Lodge No. 109, Ste. Genevieve, Mo.
 Sam Houston - Hero of San Jacinto - Holland Lodge No. 1, Houston, Tx.  Cumberland Lodge No. 8, Nashville, Tn.
 William Barret Travis - The Defender of the Alamo - Alabama Lodge No. 3
 James Bowie - The Greatest Fighter in the Southwest - Loge L'Humble Chaumiere No. 19, Opelousas, La.
 David Crockett - King of the Wilderness - (lodge unknown - his Masonic apron, entrusted to the Sheriff of Weakley Co., Tn., has survived with the family of E. M. Taylor of Paducah, Ky.)
 James Bonham - Alamo Defender and last messenger to leave the Alamo and return - (So. Carolina lodge records destroyed by fire in 1838)
 James Fannin - Commander at Goliad - Holland Lodge No. 36, Brazoria, Tx.
 Anson Jones - Last President of the Republic of Texas - Holland Lodge No. 1, Houston, Tx.  Harmony Lodge No. 52, Phila. Pa.
 Lorenzo de Zavala - First Vice-President of the Republic - Logia Independencia No. 454 (Gr. Ldg. of New York), Mexico City.
 Jose Navarro - Texas Patriot and Legislator - American Virtue Lodge No. 10, Saltillo, Mexico.
 Juan Seguin - Tejano Patriot - Holland Lodge No. 1, Houston, Tx.
 Lawrence S. "Sul" Ross - Texas Ranger, Confederate General, Governor of Texas, President of Texas A&M - Waco Lodge No. 92, Waco.
 John J. Kennedy - "Sheriff, leader of law and order faction of the Regulator-Moderator War, Confederate Captain" - Marshall Lodge No. 22, Marshall, Tx.
 R.E.B. Baylor - Founder of Baylor University - Baylor Lodge No. 125, Gay Hill, Tx.
 Benjamin F. Terry - Founder and Commander of Terry's Texas Rangers - Holland Lodge No. 1, Houston.
 Thomas S. Lubbock - Commander of Terry's Texas Rangers - Holland Lodge No. 1, Houston.
 Charles Goodnight - Plainsman and Cattleman - Phoenix Lodge No. 275, Weatherford, Tx.
 Jimmie Rodgers - The Singin' Brakeman, Father of Country Music - Blue Bonnet Lodge No. 1219, San Antonio, Tx.
 Audie Murphy - Most Decorated American Soldier of World War II - No. Hollywood Lodge No. 542
 Gene Autry - The Singing Cowboy Claire Chennault - Founder of the Flying Tigers Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin - 2nd Man on the Moon'' - Clear Lake Lodge No. 1417, El Lago, Tx
 James "Red" Duke - Chief of Trauma Center at Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston, and the Creator of the Life Flight Helicopter System, the first air ambulance service in Texas. Hillsboro Lodge No. 196, Hillsboro, Tx.
 Hiram Abiff Boaz - Second President of Southern Methodist University and Member of Hillcrest Masonic Lodge in Dallas Texas