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Distinguishing English and Welsh Towns from villages

I had always thought that in England and Wales (possibly also Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, although I am not sure about these as they are under separate national or legal systems) a town was different to a village as it had a charter (hence why so many villages ecist that are bigger than towns). They may also have been historically distinguished by having a market as mentioned, but can anyone clarify the need, or not, for a town to have a charter in England & Wales? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dainamo (talkcontribs) 09:51, 17 November 2004 (UTC)

Incorrect usage

I stand by my addition of "but it is considered incorrect and misleading". If a state has municiplaities designated as villages, it is just plain wrong to apply the terminology to any areas that are not officially villages. In New York, for example, we have the term "hamlets", to describe village-like communities (i.e., sections of towns) that do not have their own government.

As to Wikipedia being descriptivist rather than presriptivist, I think it is important that while we describe how language is used, it is also imporatnat that we point out how it is misused and abused (or shall we start declaring that nucyoolar is a proper pronunciation just because there are a lot of misguided people who use it).

Nelson Ricardo 14:14, 13 December 2004 (UTC)

There's a difference between formal and informal usage. If someone says they're going to run into the village to get some milk, when there is no "official" village there--are you going to go "tsk, tsk, that is considered incorrect and misleading"? I'd hope not. The point is that state legislatures do not have the authority to dictate language usage. They can decide what terms describe incorporated municipalities in that state, but that is not a bar from anyone else using the terms in ways that may not precisely comport with the state legislature's usage. As for "nucyoolar", I think a good dictionary would include some indication that that pronunciation is used by some. For example, check out [1]. In any case, perhaps we can include some additional note here about how such usage may be confusing in states where there are incorporated villages, without a chiding tone. olderwiser 14:54, 13 December, 2004 (UTC)

What exactly is the legal meaning of "village" in North Carolina and Florida? I see the term used in various articles for places in these states, but I cannot find the definition of it as put forth in those states' laws and/or constitutions.   –radiojon 04:38, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

In Florida, there does not appear to be any legal distinction between a city, town, or village. Under state law, they are all municipalities. It may be that there was a historical distinction and some municipalities have continued to call themselves what they have always been called or perhaps some communities simply want to style themselves as a folksy "village" while other want to go for the glamour of being a city. [2] see Table 9-1
Looks to be much the same in North Carolina. [3] (large PDF) Municipalities can style themselves as a city, town, or village and all apparently have equal standing under state law, except for some qualification about eligibility to receive gasoline tax allocations. I think California is similar in this regard. All the municipalities are treated equally under the law, but they are free to style their names as they like. olderwiser 00:31, 19 July 2005 (UTC)


Pennsylvania

I live in Allegheny County, north of Pittsburgh a bit. I took a car ride with my mother to Slippery Rock, Butler County recently, and right outside of there, there was a legal village, but I can't remember the name of it. All I remember is that it did have the typical municipal marker (white, wide, rectangle, blue writing with the municipality type in small letters [as in "Village of" or "Borough of"], and the name of the community under it in larger blue text). I'd be very curious as to the name of the community and its standing. It is in Butler County, as is Slippery Rock. If I find it, I'll post it, maybe here, and then the author can add it if so desired. --Coryma 21:35, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

derevnya/selo/gorod

There was a formal attribute in Imperial Russia (and before) to divide settlements into these three categories:

  1. gorod (город, city) must have a cathedral
  2. selo (село, village) must have a church
  3. derevnya (деревня, village) have nothing of above
--jno 12:23, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

"Human" settlement?

Do we really need to say "human" settlement? Anybody have any thoughts on this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeffpower (talkcontribs) 17:03, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

I think it should be included in case an Alien were to be reading it. --Silent Xenocide 03:09, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Section on Indian villages changed to Pakistan villages, why?

Someone changed the section on the Indian village to Pakistan village and with it most of its contents, as well as an added contents as to what appears to be about Pakistan villages. Also now removed is an image of an Indian village. Will someone please check this. Surely there would be space for both Indian as well as Pakistani villages without having to take over the original? Seems an odd way to go about cooperation in Wikipedia? Dieter Simon 00:02, 12 January 2007 (UTC) Dieter Simon 01:03, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Have added POV template to section in article. Dieter Simon 01:03, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Have now re-entered the paragraph about the original article relating to Indian villages which was at some time arbitrarily changed (and probably vandalised) to a Pakistan village para. Please, please, create a proper paragraph for villages in Pakistan separately from the Indian one. As I said before, there is room for both sections, as Wikipedians we don't have to vandalise each other's articles and paragraphs. The image of the original Indian village had disappeared altogether, becaus it obviously had the wrong caption. Hope you will give this some civilised consideration. We are all Wikipedia members, so please co-operation would be a nice thing. Dieter Simon 02:20, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Size

What is the limit on a village in Ireland & U.K.? - Culnacréann 13:10, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

This is probably a very difficult question to answer. To give you an impression of the complexity of the interpretation of size, see Largest village in England. A similar problem will probably apply to Ireland. I leave it to you make up your own mind after reading the above link. Dieter Simon 23:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Kampong in Southeast Asia

Does anymore here have more information regarding the Kampong section under Southeast Asia? --121.217.128.171 (talk) 02:37, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Country subdivision

from User_talk:Tobias Conradi - Tobias Conradi (Talk) 16:58, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

...why is village categorized as a country subdivision? A village is a settlement, not a subdivision. Or is it considered a subdivision in some countries?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 16:55, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

IMO, to be a country subdivision it needs, 1) geographic boundaries, 2) to be legal defined 3) boundaries have to be within one country. Tobias Conradi (Talk) 17:04, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
See also Summer village Tobias Conradi (Talk) 17:09, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
These are vital characteristics, but is a "subdivision" by its very own definition not something that subdivides some larger entity? I don't see how villages can subdivide any upper-level unit. Using Russia as an example, districts are divided into selsovets, but selsovets, in turn, are not subdivided into villages. Instead, they group several villages and the territories between them. The total area of a selsovet is always larger than the territories of all its villages combined.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 17:17, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
In France though you have State>Region>Department>Canton>Commune (ie village), so it is also a subdivision. Hrcolyer (talk) 13:07, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

American villages?

The term village seems to have a purely legal connotation in the USA. Is it fair to say (and worth saying) small town is the vernacular term in the US (and Australia?) for what in Britain (and Europe generally?) would be commonly called a village? Joestynes 08:48, 19 August 2004 (UTC)

Well, it's not quite so easy. "Village" is a specific type of political entity in many states (I'm really not sure about how many though). In some states "town" is also a specific type of political entity. In most (perhaps all) states, city is also a political entity. However, in informal speech, a person could use any of the terms in ways that do not necessarily correspond with the official political status. For instance, any place that is relatively densely populated might be referred to as a city or a town by someone living in a nearby rural area (as in "I'm going into the city/into town to buy some groceries.") This can be confusing because the actual political status does not strictly correspond to population--while relative population density is more likely to affect which term is used in informal speech. There are villages that are an order of magnitude larger than the smallest cities--and they may be referred to informally as cities. The political status generally refers to the specific powers of municipal government that it is empowered to exercise. In general, cities have the greatest authority to act independently. Villages have a lesser degree of independent authority and often share some responsibility with other local governmental entities (such as the county or township). But back to your question, in my experience, people might use "small town" to describe where they live to someone not familiar with the area. Amongst people familiar with the area, they be more likely to just say "town" (as in the "going into town" example above)--specifying "small town" in that context would sound decidedly odd. To be honest, I've not heard anyone use "village" in a context other than when refering to a specific village, as in "the Village of Homer"--and this usually in a newspaper or formal speech. In informal speech, people would likely simply refer to "Homer". OK, drawing my rambling to a close now--I'd have to say that "town" is the most commonly used generic reference to populated areas outside of densely populated urban areas. "City" is also often used generically to refer to more densely populated areas--but either can be used interchangeably in many contexts. I've not heard "village" used generically in this way--but I've lived my entire life in the U.S. midwest and usage may differ in other regions of the U.S. olderwiser 13:41, 19 August 2004 (UTC)
In some countries, there is no legal difference between any settlement. In France, all municipalités/communes have a mairie (town hall) and maire (mayor). Afterwards, a village will be one that is small. It is an entirely subjective term, sometimes used in a pejorative sense (although not necessarily). Up to 2000 inhabitants, it would be accepted it's a village, but official documents will always speak the same of Paris, Lyon or Marseille as well as the smallest settlement. Hrcolyer (talk) 13:14, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Villages in Syria

Have reverted the section on Syria's villages as it was not made clear why on the one hand villages vary from city to city , on the other hand, other areas have 'similar' types of villages. You have given us many different names of areas and villages therein, but to make this a really good section can you think of what these differences and/or similarities are respectively? Have some villages been developed on water-rich sites whereas others are in relatively dry areas? We couldn't really leave the section the way it was without explaining the points you are trying to make. Dieter Simon (talk) 01:31, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Why change British/Other English-speaking countries spelling to American?

Is there really a reason to change the spelling to American English, such as "defence" to "defense"? This is in the section about "traditional villages". It surely does not have any bearing on American culture in this case? Changing to American English spelling would certainly be valid if it were dealing with the U.S. and U.S. culture, but it isn't. Have reverted for the time being until someone comes up with a good reason for the original change. Dieter Simon (talk) 23:12, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

I can sympathize; Americanisms jar with me, too. But the article was originally written in American English, which is the other criterion for which to use (and stick with). So whoever changed it back to "defense" was correct. Moonraker12 (talk) 21:28, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Loanword?

The categories here list this as a French loanword (also as a French term or phrase). I thought the word was from the Latin; did it arrive in English from France? does anyone know? Moonraker12 (talk) 21:23, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

The Longman Dictionary of the English Language does indeed state that the word "village" arrived in Middle English from Middle French (ultimately Old French) from ville which meant "farm, village", but of course like so many French words it derived from Latin. In this case it was villa which was a "country estate" in Rome.
So, yes, Middle English and Middle French is normally reckoned from about 1150 to anything up to 1400, so we are talking about a Norman arrival here almost certainly. Dieter Simon (talk) 23:02, 11 July 2009 (UTC)
One more thing the ending "-age" normally is an indication of French, and not Latin. The French suffix derived often from the Latin -aticum. Take the English word "voyage" for example, it comes from Latin viaticum via Old French voiage. Dieter Simon (talk) 23:14, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

human settlement

"A village is a clustered human settlement..."

"human" is superfluous here. Animals do not settle.--80.141.228.253 (talk) 13:41, 10 October 2009 (UTC)
I think that is the point of specifying "human", right? Abductive (reasoning) 18:19, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Is there a reason this is missing? Can it be replaced? Thmazing (talk) 23:43, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Pending changes

This article is one of a number selected for the early stage of the trial of the Wikipedia:Pending Changes system on the English language Wikipedia. All the articles listed at Wikipedia:Pending changes/Queue are being considered for level 1 pending changes protection.

The following request appears on that page:

Comments on the suitability of theis page for "Pending changes" would be appreciated.

Please update the Queue page as appropriate.

Note that I am not involved in this project any much more than any other editor, just posting these notes since it is quite a big change, potentially

Regards, Rich Farmbrough, 00:34, 17 June 2010 (UTC).

Clarify image of "A Farm of a Village in Bihar"

Please clarify where the farm is (or the village, come to that) in the photo. All I can see is fields and plants, but no human settlement, activity or structures. Otherwise the image will be irrelevant to the article. Dieter Simon (talk) 00:37, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Number of villages in the world

I think we should try to estimate the number of villages in the world. I can tell how many are in my country (Romania) and other people can do the same for their countries. We can make a table which in the end will give us the number of the villages in the world. Romania has 13.285 villages, most of them being part of the 2.686 communes (some villages are under administration of towns or cities), with a total village population of aprox. 10,139,000. —  Ark25  (talk) 14:07, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Villages in Spain: Galicia and Asturias

In Spain villages are typical in the North of the country (Asturias, Cantabria, Basc Country and especially in Galicia region). The rest of Spain is full of towns, but not aldeas (villages). Galician villages are similar to UK ones. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.111.155.172 (talk) 12:15, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Africa, Nigeria

I think references cited in support of contribution on Nigeria are relevant enough. So I'm asking if I can remove the warning above it? If not, please whose responsibility is it to so? Shamsu Rabiu Galadunchi — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shamsurabiu (talkcontribs) 01:24, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Village/Union Council jourah listed at Redirects for discussion

 

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Village/Union Council jourah. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. signed, Rosguill talk 21:54, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

Deletion of some unnecessary pictures

This page has received the problem stating that there are too many pictures here so I decided to remove some of unnecessary pictures here to shorten this article Kohcohf (talk) 04:02, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Lead images

I would like to suggest that the lead images be reworked so that it's less Euro-centric and US-centric? See also discussion at city here: https://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Talk:City#Lead_image EMsmile (talk) 10:36, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

Indian village

Make a content for Indian village plz 49.205.82.48 (talk) 02:39, 16 September 2022 (UTC)

We need a picture and mention of at least one isolated/semi-isolated Amazonian village

We need at least one other picture documenting what was is commonly referred to a "tribal village" or indigenous traditional village. We have one for Nigeria but I think we should also include a traditional Amazonian village too. We should mention all the uncounted "Amazon tribes" living in the Amazon Rainforest in traditional villages and include a picture that represent at least one such village with the inhabitants still living a traditional lifestyle. Notcharliechaplin (talk) 17:29, 6 December 2022 (UTC)