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Improper use of the term "Lusitanian"

Posted by arlameira on 20 Jun 2013 at 12:15 GMT

Lusitania, historically refers to a territory which comprises all the Portuguese territory south of Douro river, and parts of Spain, of which a great part belonged once to Portugal as well. Nowadays, "Lusitanian" is essentially used to refer to any matter of Portuguese origin, instead of Iberian, as it seems to be the case in the target paper. The same applies to the term "Spanic" for matters of Spanish origin. Without undervaluing in any way or aspect the analyses of the authors and the merit and interest of this paper, the reference Lusitanian is clearly improper to refer to a question which revolves around the Perinea.

No competing interests declared.

RE: Improper use of the term "Lusitanian"

angusdavison replied to arlameira on 22 Jun 2013 at 19:58 GMT

Hi Arlameira

I agree that "Lusitanian" is not a geographically accurate term, but it is the one that was originally used to describe the problem and is still in common use today. Moore's 1987 description of the problem as the "Irish question" is probably better, but also loaded with irony.

Angus

Competing interests declared: Author of the article.