what is the definition and origin of the word subcontinent?
152197
The word continent is from the Latin "continens" meaning "continuous land."  The prefix "sub-" means "less than."  So subcontinent is a piece of land smaller than a continent.  The term is usually only applied to the region around India or to Greenland.
537562
Define America. Are you talking about the United States of America or about the North and South American continents?
326981
Describes the way that the Earths tectonic plates were positioned at the time of the Cenazoic Era.  \n\n the Cenozoic Era is when continents moved into their current positions. South america drifted away from Africa, the Atlantic Ocean widened and, late in the era, South America became attached to North America.
633238
History of the Indian Subcontinent\n      \nStone Age 70,000–7000 BC \nMehrgarh Culture 7000–3300 BC \nIndus Valley Civilization 3300–1700 BC \nLate Harappan Culture 1700–1300 BC \nVedic Civilization 1500–500 BC \nKuru Dynasty 1200–316 BC \nMaha Janapadas 700–321 BC \nMagadha Empire 684–321 BC \nMiddle Kingdoms 600 BC–1279 AD \nMaurya Empire 321–184 BC \nGupta Empire 240–550 AD \nChola Empire 848–1279 AD \nIslamic Sultanates 979–1596 \nHoysala Empire 1040–1346 \nDelhi Sultanate 1210–1526 \nVijayanagara Empire 1336–1565 \nMughal Era 1526–1707 \nMaratha Empire 1674–1761 \nColonial Era 1757–1947 \nRepublic of India 1947 onwards \n\nThe Gupta dynasty ruled India north of the Vindhya Range during the 4th and 5th centuries. Though not as vast as Mauryan empire, The Gupta era left a deep and wide cultural impact not only in the subcontinent but on the adjacent Asian countries as well. We get plenty of information about this illustrious dynasty through coins, inscriptions, monuments and Sanskrit classics.\n\nThe Gupta rulers were great conquerors and good administrators. They checked the infiltration of foreign tribes like Sakas and Hunas and established political stability. Economic prosperity followed and led to cultural expansion.\n\nSanskrit language and literature were reached its peak during the Gupta era. Poets Kalidasa, Dandi, Visakhadatta, Shudraka, and Bharavi all belong to this period. Many puranas and shastras were composed and famous commentaries on sacred works appeared. Buddhist and Jain literature, which was produced earlier in Pali, Ardhamagadhi and other Prakrit languages, began to appear in Sanskrit. The practice of dedicating temples to different deities came into vogue followed by fine artistic temple architecture and sculpture. Of the twenty-eight Ajanta caves, most of them were constructed during this period. Gupta inscriptions, some of them on "victory pillars" provide first hand information not only about royalty but society in general.\n\n=======\n\nThe Maurya Empire was the largest and most powerful political and military empire of ancient India. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic plains of modern Bihar and Bengal and its capital city of Pataliputra (near modern Patna), the Empire was founded in 321 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty and began expanding his power across central and western India. The Empire stretched to the north along the natural boundaries of the Himalayas and to the east, stretching into what is now Assam. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan and included Baluchistan in Persia and significant portions of what is now Afghanistan, including the modern Herat and Kandahar provinces. The Empire was expanded into India's central and southern regions by Emperor Bindusara, but excluded a small portion of unexplored trial and forested regions near Kalinga. Following the conquest of Kalinga in a major war, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire. The kingdoms of Pandya and Cheras in southern India thus preserved their independence, accepting the supremacy of the Mauryan emperor. The Mauryan Empire was perhaps the greatest empire to rule the Indian subcontinent until the arrival of the British. Its decline began fifty years after Ashoka's rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Sunga Dynasty in Magadha.\n\nUnder Chandragupta, the Mauryan Empire liberated the transindus, which was under macedonian occupation. He then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I, a Greek general from Alexander's army. Under Chandragupta and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture and economic activities thrived and expanded across India, with the creation of a single and efficient system of finance, administration and security. After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced half a century of peace and security under Ashoka. Under him, India was a
305848
It means "Land", just as we write Greenland, England (Land of the Angles), Swaziland (Land of the Swazi tribe, Asian languages like Hindi use the suffix "stan" meaning "land." So Hindustan is "Land of the Hindus", Afghanistan, Land of the Afghans, but Pakistan is formed from an acronym of initials forming PAK and then "stan" for land. Strange but true.
356276
Yes, unless you consider the Indian subcontinent to be a separate continent.
833115
Here's a website on word origins that has a few suggestions:\n\nhttp://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/97.html
211100
O.E. seolfor "silver," from P.Gmc. *silubra- (cf. O.S. silvbar, O.N. silfr, M.Du. silver, Du. zilver, O.H.G. sillabar, Ger. silber, Goth. silubr), from a common Germanic/Balto-Slavic term (cf. O.C.S. sirebo, Rus. serebo, Lith. sidabras "silver"), possibly from a language of Asia Minor. Perhaps from Akkad. sarpu "silver," lit. "refined silver," related to sarapu "to refine, smelt." Chemical abbreviation Ag is from L. argentum "silver," from the PIE root (see argent). The verb, "to cover or plate with silver" is recorded from 1440. Silverware is from 1860. \n\nHope this helps.
524322
Cricket began in Northern Europe sometime after the Roman Empire and before the Normans invaded England.\nAll research concedes that the game derived from a very old, widespread and uncomplicated pastime by which one player served up an object, be it a small piece of wood or a ball, and another hit it with a suitably fashioned club. \n\nHow the game evolved from there is not known.\nWhat is agreed is that by Tudor times cricket had evolved far enough from club–ball to be recognisable as the game played today; that it was well established in many parts of Kent, Sussex and Surrey; that within a few years it had become a feature of leisure time at a significant number of schools; and – a sure sign of the wide acceptance of any game – that it had become popular enough among young men to earn the disapproval of local magistrates.
919425
Well, the "h" in your question is wrong - it should be an "e".\nGo check that word in your crossword.\nThe answer you are looking for is \n"Subcontinent".
369195
What's the difference? Well, one's from South Asia, one's from the Middle East. Get it?\n\nIndians call themselves Asian because technically they are. They are from the continent of Asia.
1094570
India comes from the word Sindhu( a name for the river Indus)>>converted to Indus river by the British and then the place came to be known as India.\n\nWhy the Britishers started calling it this way was because they couldnt pronounce it in any other way.India sounds anglisized and they wanted such a name for their colony.\n\nSindhu came to be known as Hindu and the place was called Hindustan by Moghuls.This was the name convinient for the muslim invaders.\n\nHowever,to put "the meaning of India" in one word, that word is yajna - sacrifice. The true meaning of sacrifice is the renunciation of the ego to the higher, universal Self. And that universal Self, which is to be found in our own deepest nature, is being, consciousness and joy. In total sacrifice lies total freedom. Yajna means giving up greed, taking from the earth only enough to meet our basic needs and returning as sacrifice what earth and nature so freely give. This eternal wisdom of India is so much needed in our time when materialism is dominating our culture.
787616
The origin of the word 'wicket' was to refer to the stumps because of their resemblance to wicket gates, and according to the source I found, was first used in cricket in 1733.\nIn terms of getting a wicket, remembering that originally there were far fewer ways of dismissing a batsman than there are today, the bost common way of dismissing a batsman was bowled. This was (and is) referred to as the wicket falling, or fall of wicket.\nSame goes for the bowler "breaking the wicket".\nNot sure how the pitch ever came to be called the wicket.\nAs for things having more than one term, that isn't unique to cricket at all - football (in all its forms, depending on your origin) has its field variously referred to as the track, the field, the paddock, the sward and a host of other titles. I think you have to look at that as being part of the rich tapestry of sport...
620484
why not? subcontinent has huge fan following for cricket than anywhere else. They go mad when cricket comes to their part of world. Moreover more than 80% of revenue for cricket comes from subcontinent. I think they truly deserve to get world cup after 15 year gap.
32532
Etymology\n \nWorld map showing Africa (geographically)The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.\n\nThe Afri were a tribe — possibly Berber — who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of Afer may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in most other Semitic languages); some other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name 'Africa' that are much more debatable include:\n\nthe Latin word aprica, meaning "sunny"; \nthe Greek word aphrike, meaning "without cold" (see also List of traditional Greek place names). The historian Leo Africanus (1495-1554) attributed the origin to the Greek word phrike (φρικε, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the negating prefix a-, so meaning a land free of cold and horror. However, the change of sound from ph to f in Greek is datable to about the first century, so this is unlikely to be the origin. \nEgypt was considered part of Asia by the ancients, and first assigned to Africa by the geographer Ptolemy (85 - 165 AD), who accepted Alexandria as Prime Meridian and made the isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge.
710618
A land of beauty, A land of culture, A land which truly signifies UNITY Among DIVERSITY. A country which has the largest, oldest and continuous civilization in world. A country which is the largest democracy in the world. A country of people who truly believe in "Vasudhev Kutumbakam" meaning this whole world is a family. A land of "Vedas" which are the most ancient scriptures in the world. Vedas are written in "Sanskrit" the language which is mother to all the languages in the world. Sanskrit even today is considered most suitable language for computer software.\n\nA civilization which despite being the richest and most advanced in past times never invaded other countries. A country that is proud to be the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, Mahavir Swami, Swami Vivekananda and Gandhi. A land of peace. A land of inventors who gave the world foundation to build all the scientific discoveries. A place which invented ZERO The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC. A land which gave birth to - Ayurved - The earliest school of medicine known to humans. Surgery was first performed by Sushruta about 2600 years ago.\n\nBirthplace of Algebra, trigonometry and calculus. A country which gave the world - Chess the ultimate game of strategy.\n\nA country which gave the world "Yoga". A country which was home to the World's first university established in Takshashila in 700BC, where more than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. \n\nEven today a country which is fast emerging as world's superpower in Information technology. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.\n\nPlease see below for more information on India\n\nhttp://www.isamaj.com/indinfo/\n\nhttp://www.isamaj.com/indinfo/facts1.htm
761167
Good question, and a tough one to answer, although I'm skeptical of the "all known criteria" piece of it.  I did browse much of the Wikipedia entry, and I also have a globe here to look at.\n\nTo rephrase this question, I guess we could say, (1) why is it not a continent, and (2) why is it a subcontinent?\n\nTraditionally, there are six or seven continents -- North & South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica.  Sometimes Europe & Asia are combined into Eurasia, and some people like to combine the Americas.\n\nSize and geographic separation seem to be important ... the Central America connection is pretty narrow, as is the Suez connection.  On the other hand, the Ural mountains separating Europe from Asia is an ancient plate boundary (similar to the Appalachians, and much older than the Himalayas), and the Ural boundary certainly is not "narrow."  In that case, however, there are huge historical cultural differences between, for example, western Europe and East Asia.\n\nIn terms of size, Australia is the smallest continent, and Greenland is the largest island.  India is much closer in size to Greenland than to Australia.  (Also compare Madagascar, a large island drifting away from Africa.  The tectonic activity there is similar to India.)\n\nSo on the question of "why isn't it a continent," I'd say size matters a lot -- India isn't big enough -- and I'd say the closest boundary comparison is between the Himalaya barrier and the Urals.  West of the Urals is much, much larger than south of the Himalayas.\n\nCultural comparisons matter too, and by this measure, India could be considered a continent in its own right.  The Indian population is significantly different than the neighboring Oriental and Caucasian peoples.\n\nWhen you balance all this stuff, I guess you say Europe is its own continent -- it's big and culturally differentiable; but India is not a continent because it's not big enough.\n\nThe other part of the question is, why is it a subcontinent?  There, the Himalayas and, to a lesser extent, the Indian Plate, make a big difference.  Because of the mountains, India is geograpically separated from the rest of Asia.\n\nIt's also a large peninsula.  In this regard, we must compare with the Arabian Peninsula (which sits on the Arabian Plate), and maybe with Asia Minor, the boundary of which (by looking at a globe) may be said to extend from the Persion Gulf to the eastern end of the Black Sea, thus comprising a large area encompassing Turkey, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.  The other obvious large peninsula is Western Europe itself, bounded on the east by a line extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic.\n\nBut neither of those peninsulas have the Himalaya Mountain barrier.\n\nSo putting that altogether, I guess that's why India is a subcontinent and not a continent.  And since it seems to be the only generally recognized subcontinent in the world, that makes it pretty unique.