Questions tagged [terminology]
For questions about technical or specialized words in fields like grammar, IT, politics, sports, etc.
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Why was the subjunctive mood 'so called because the Greek subjunctive mood is used almost exclusively in subordinate clauses'?
Concerning the adjective "subjunctive", OED (3rd ed., 2012) mentions (emphasis mine):
Post-classical Latin subiunctivus is a translation equivalent of Hellenistic Greek ὑποτακτικός , which as a ...
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2answers
200 views
What is the term for extremely loose Latin word order?
For a Latin-language artificial intelligence called Mensa Latina the user manual will need to discuss and therefore refer to the phenomenon in Latin prose where meaning comes from grammar and ...
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1answer
625 views
Exactly what is a declension?
I was reading a Latin grammar book (Jenney's First Year Latin, for the curious) having recently resolved to learn a bit about the language and what I understood was as follows:
Latin is an inflected ...
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2answers
57 views
in order of temporal proximity
In Latin, how would you refer to the concept of sorting events according to temporal proximity (i.e. most recent, or nearest to now, first); as opposed to sorting by priority, or starting from the ...
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385 views
What is the “economy principle” in papyrology exactly?
I have come across the phrase "economy principle" somewhere I cannot recall, talking about why some combinations of papyrus fragments were made. What is this principle exactly?
Update
As I typed it, ...
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1answer
316 views
How to translate machine learning?
Machine learning is a roughly method where a machine learns to perform a certain task by learning on its own.
The machine gains experience and can solve a very specific problem intuitively.
It is not ...
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1answer
90 views
Why did the Romans link Autumn with earth and melancholy, Spring with air and sanguine, and Winter with water and phelgm?
I don't understand the Romans' linking of humor, season, and characteristics for Humours 1-3. E.g. for 1: 1.1. Why'd black bile predominate in autumn (which I agree, is cold and dry)?
1.2. Why'd ...
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What does 'iure civili' mean in Apuleius VI.23, when Cupid and Psyche get married?
When Cupid and Psyche get married, at the end of their story in Apuleius' Metamorphoses VI.23, Jupiter announces that they will be wed iure civili:
Et ad Venerem collata facie, ‘Nec tu,’ inquit ‘...
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749 views
What is the difference between a roman (“novel”) and a “Milesiae fabula”?
Apparently, the fabula Milesiae, "story of Miletus", was a Greek genre. Apuleius calls himself "the author of this Milesian tale" in his Metamorphoses (IV.32, below). From what I remember of the (late)...
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61 views
General term for each inflected form of a lexeme
illī is a X of ille declension.
illī is singular dative masculine form of ille.
In the first sentence what we should say instead of X?
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Meaning of Spiritus Lenis
I'm studying Arabic grammar from an old text book and it uses the term Spiritus Lenis. What does it mean?
To quote the book:
The object of it is merely to distinguish elif as the long vowel (ie ...
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378 views
What exactly is brevis brevians?
I have come across the term brevis brevians a couple of times on this site.
Unfortunately Google does not provide me with a clear definition with examples, so I am still not entire sure what it means.
...
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1answer
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Is there a rhetorical term for personification?
In the ancient inventory of technical terms for rhetorical effects and devices, was there a term corresponding specifically to personification, in the sense of "the attribution of a personal nature or ...
5
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1answer
145 views
Caeteris paribus
Caeteris paribus means "all else being equal" yet, terminologically, also stands in for "all else unchanged". I'm interested in knowing actually how to say "all else unchanged" in a way that bears ...
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2answers
326 views
Why do we call a case a casus? And why rectus, obliquus?
I would translate the grammatical word casus (whence English case) as "a fall". And, indeed, the German word is Fall, Dutch naamval ("name fall"). Why is this word used for the grammatical function of ...
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1answer
106 views
Please briefly define “futurum instans”
I am writing a book, quoting from Aune: “There are several instances in Revelation of this use of ἔρχεται as futurum instans…” Note that Aune uses the term “futurum instans” for Greek, not ...
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62 views
What is meant exactly by the “familiae Troianae”?
I have seen the term familiae Troianae mentioned in Pauly and elsewhere. It has something to do with Roman families and Trojan ancestry, but it seems to be a fixed and well known term: what does it ...
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1answer
176 views
Did the Romans have a Latin name for their domestic peristylia?
A typical upper- and probably also middle-class Roman house in the classical age contained a peristylium or peristylum, or so I was told. I wonder why they used a Greek word for such a standard Roman ...
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1answer
119 views
How does the gerund 'bear' or 'carry'?
[ Etymonline: ]
1510s, from Latin gerundum "to be carried out," gerundive of gerere "to bear, carry" (see gest). In Latin, a verbal noun used for all cases of the infinitive but the nominative; ...
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1answer
267 views
What's the difference between coniunctivus and subiunctivus?
I was thrown off by a recent question that talked about the "conjunctive" mood, which I had never heard of. A few searches of William Whitaker's Words reveals that both coniunctivus (or conjunctivus) ...
