Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Ancient Cappadocian language/archive1

Ancient Cappadocian language (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

• Featured article candidates/Ancient Cappadocian language/archive1

Nominator(s): Kisseran (talk) 07:12, 31 July 2026 (UTC) reply

This article is about an obscure ancient language spoken in Anatolia. Practically nothing about the language is known for certain. I believe that this article meets all of the FA criteria. This was my first GA and now it is my first FAC. I would like to thank Vigilantcosmicpenguin for the GA review and Generalissima, RoySmith, and A.Cython for the helpful comments at PR. Kisseran (talk) 07:12, 31 July 2026 (UTC) reply

I gave this a pretty thorough review at PR, and I don't really have anything else to add; the additions have resolved my remaining concerns. I support on prose. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 08:57, 31 July 2026 (UTC) reply

I'll give this another look when I get a chance, but for now I'll just note that this really needs a review from a SME so I'd suggest advertising this at both WP:LING and WP:LANG to see if you can attract some good reviewers. RoySmith (talk) 10:18, 31 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Posted on WT:LING. I'm not sure what the etiquette on WT:LANG is since the article alert is already there. I should have also pinged and thanked Choliamb, who has already left very helpful comments on the article's talk page. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

I'm afraid I don't have any more time to spend on this right now, and in any case my knowledge of ancient languages other than Latin and Greek is minimal, so I wouldn't be much help. ThaesOfereode comes to mind as someone with solid linguistic chops who might be able to provide a useful opinion. Choliamb (talk) 11:34, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

Hmmm. There's a fine line between being so passive about recruiting reviews that you don't get the reviews you need vs making a total pest of yourself :-) There's two things you could try. First, do reviews of your own. If people see that you are contributing to the smooth running of FAC by reviewing other articles, they'll be more likely to want to review yours. The second is to see if you can find previous FAs on similar subjects, especially recent ones, and ask the nominators directly on their talk page: "I see you wrote about language X, would you be willing to review my article about language Y?" I would check all the entries in WP:FA#Language and linguistics. RoySmith (talk) 11:56, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

• Would it be possible to generate another version of File:Kingdom of Cappadocia.png which shows a little more area? If a bit more of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were visible (and the latter labeled), it would give the reader a better geographic context.

  I would like to, but unfortunately I do not have the skills to go about graphics editing, so I have to rely on what is already on Commons. I have swapped in a map of Achaemenid Cappadocia, which shows more of the surrounding area and matches Strabo's description better, but it seems to be a jpg with a lower resolution than the hellenistic map. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

  The current map File:Achaemenid Cappadocia.jpg is much better. RoySmith (talk) 18:05, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

• the Euxine to the north Apparantly, the Euxine is what is now known as the Black Sea, so I'd state that here for the convenience of the reader. I'd also add the other areas mentioned (Cilician Taurus, Armenia, and Colchis, etc) to the adjacent map.

  Changed Euxine to link to Black Sea. The replaced map no longer labels Armenia, which is annoying. If this really is a dealbreaker I suppose I have no choice but to figure it out myself. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

  See WP:Graphics Lab/Map workshop RoySmith (talk) 09:53, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

• For the We call it ouranós... text, use {{text and translation }} instead of {{blockquote }}. Likewise with the He delivered his declamations ... text later on.

  Changed to {{Translated blockquote }} per the template documentation pages. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

• Other nineteenth-century western scholars ... used a calendar with Iranian month names.[12][13] Overly long and complex sentence should be split. The previous sentence (As evidence ... other Semitic languages) is kind of wordy as well, but not as bad.

  Split. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

• Hittite was deciphered first in 1917 after the discovery cuneiform tablets ... Something's missing here. Perhaps "... discovery OF cuneiform tablets"?

  Yes, fixed. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

That's it for me. RoySmith (talk) 23:51, 31 July 2026 (UTC) reply

Thank you! Responded above. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

Look good, conditional Support based on the quality of the prose. Everything flows well and this was an enjoyable read but this very much needs to have somebody who knows about languages and linguistics to validate it from an academic standpoint. RoySmith (talk) 18:16, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

Image review

• Suggest scaling up the map

• Kingdom_of_Cappadocia.png: what's the source of the data presented in this map? Nikkimaria (talk) 00:03, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

@Nikkimaria thank you. One of my long-term gripes is that we tend to exempt images from WP:V. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who worries about that. RoySmith (talk) 00:29, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

The hellenistic map probably came from this map by Ian Mladjov, but I have swapped it out for a different image, which is already sourced in the description. Kisseran (talk) 03:26, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply

Great to see you bringing your skills to FAC, Kisseran (and thanks to Choliamb for the ping/kind words). Saving a spot; review to follow. ThaesOfereode (talk) 16:19, 1 August 2026 (UTC) reply