26
votes
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Why did scientists abandon Latin in their publications?
This answer has been percolating in my head for a couple of months now. Given that there haven't been any other attempts to answer it, I've posted it but realise its limitations in providing a clear ...
- 8,611
19
votes
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Is *Moscovia* a latinists' invention?
Latin was the general language of civilised Europe until as recently as the 17th century - Newton’s Principia is written in it - so there is nothing unnatural about wanting to refer to Moscow and ...
- 1,448
19
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So what *is* the Latin word for “chocolate”?
Latin actually had staying power in the late Renaissance and a few centuries thereafter. We have plenty of treatises from 17th century Europe written in Latin about chocolate, and the word they used ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
13
votes
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What is "parecbolae"?
This is a word transliterated and adapted from Greek παρεκβολή (parekbolḗ), from πᾰρά (para-, "near", but here meaning "placed together") and ἐκβολή (ekbolḗ, "throwing out" but here meaning "something ...
- 19.8k
13
votes
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Indeclinables: What are the strategies good Latinists use to deal with them?
As cmw says, the most common solution was to simply…ignore the problem. In many cases, the ambiguity isn't particularly bad; there's a default of putting the subject before the object, and the context ...
- 64.6k
12
votes
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'Quae pars anterior quae posterior jure habeatur in toto genere non liquet': taxonomical description of Antarctissa denticulata (Ehrenberg 1844)
I would translate the boldfaced sentence as
It is not clear which part would be rightfully considered the front and which part the rear in the whole genus.
For creatures of that appearance, that ...
- 110k
12
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "suffragio" at the time of Calvin?
Note, in your Etymonline citation, that the word originally came into English with the meaning of "intercessory plea or prayer", rather than "vote"; that meaning wasn't established in English until ...
- 1,041
12
votes
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'idem hercle esset' meaning?
"By Hercules!" "Indeed!" - Common in classical and post-classical Latin.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3DHercules
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12
votes
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Latin words for “engineer”
Besides machinator, I found two words for engineer in classical Latin that are primarily directed towards the devising of buildings and fortifications.
aedificator A builder, derived from aedes (...
- 531
12
votes
Accepted
What does Q.B.V.D. stand for on the title page of a dissertation?
It's also – more commonly, I believe – given as Q. D. B. V. = quod Deus bene vertat, 'May God cause this to turn out well'/'May God grant this success.'
This use of verto is under definition 18 in ...
- 19.1k
12
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How to say "black market" in Latin?
According to the Vatican's Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis, parvum verborum novatorum Léxicum:
mercato nero [Italian] mercatūra clandestīna [Latin]
- 3,490
12
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Indeclinables: What are the strategies good Latinists use to deal with them?
You may not like it, but word order is necessary, and in fact is what was done with the Vulgate:
Matthew 1.2:
Abraham genuit Isaac Isaac autem genuit Iacob Iacob autem genuit Iudam et fratres eius
...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
11
votes
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When were trivialis and quadrivialis introduced?
I believe the cursory etymology you stated is inaccurate. Here is what my research shows:
Medieval Latin meaning of trivium / trivialis
In the Middle Ages, the liberal arts were divided into the ...
- 38.5k
11
votes
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Use of ß (“eszett”) in Latin text
The modern German roman-type ß was developed at the end of the 19th century as an analogue of the blackletter ß, which was a ligature of ſ and z (which is reflected in its name) that had slowly ...
- 1,184
11
votes
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Interpretation of circumflex in a poem from 1621
*Please see addendum at the bottom
I have found two possible explanations for the circumflex: (1) to indicate a long vowel and (2) to indicate an ablative. Both of these functions would seem to ...
- 8,611
11
votes
Accepted
How would you say "cafe" in Latin?
There have already been a few answers, but I have always liked the Morgan and Silva Furman University Lexicon, so here are the terms it gives for "cafe":
thermopolium, -i, n.
taberna ...
- 3,958
11
votes
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How do you say "online" and "offline" in Latin?
For “online” you could say:
colligatus (from colligare)
conexus (from conectere, note: long o, single n!)
Thus for “offline” you could say:
incolligatus
inconexus
Or you could go a different route ...
- 31.7k
11
votes
Best modern translation for "Emperor"?
Another example I could have used was the Emperor of China or Japan.
I'm going to lean more heavily on this one and suggest that none of your above options are ideal. Instead, you should go with ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Quid a "hic", "munere" significat Linnæus?
The first sentence becomes much clearer when ſ is transcribed correctly as s, not f:
Homo mundi intraturus theatrum quaeritur Quis sit:
Man, who is about to enter the theatre of the world, is ...
- 641
10
votes
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Was "mendicus" a term for the impotent or idle poor?
Mendicus was originally just a general term to refer to the poor, but it later took on a more specific meaning, referring to beggars.
According to Michel Mollat's The Poor in the Middle Ages: An ...
- 2,500
10
votes
Why were some medieval maps made in Latin?
Modern people often underestimate how fractured the linguistic landscape of Late Mediaeval and Early Modern Europe were. Outside of Langue d'Oïl, very few people spoke each particular language you ...
- 1,206
10
votes
Is Thomas Hobbes' translation of "nosce te ipsum" as "read thyself" valid?
As @Cerberus says, it's an unusual but valid translation.
I think, however, it becomes clearer when one adds the beginning of the paragraph, so that it reads:
There is a saying much usurped of ...
- 16.4k
10
votes
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Rupes Recta, The Straight Wall, Correct Translation
Yes, depending on the type of wall.
Rūpēs, -is is a third-declension feminine noun derived from rumpō "break, split". It means a rock which is split apart or has a smooth face; I've seen it ...
- 64.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Variation in the spelling of word-final M
I'm afraid my answer is the boring one: free variation, based on the amount of space available.
The tilde originally arose purely as an abbreviation: instead of writing an n or m in line with the ...
- 64.6k
10
votes
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What is the superlative of ipse?
Joonas is correct: those forms don’t belong in good classical style.
Peter Stotz’s Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters mentions that Donatus explicitly forbade comparatives and ...
- 3,246
10
votes
Is it grammatically correct to attributively use nominative forms of nouns in New Latin?
It's valid even in Classical Latin, in fact!
Generally, it's fine to put two nouns together in the nominative (or, rather, in the same case) when one of them gives the general category of a thing and ...
- 64.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Help with Latin translation from a 17th century ecclesiastical Latin book
Your translation is definitely on the right track, but there are a couple of things I want to point out:
Omnis modifies generis; that is, omnis generis means "of every kind". There doesn't ...
- 110k
9
votes
Translation of a Jodocus Hondius map inscription
Exquisita & magno aliquot mensium periculo lustrata et iam retecta Freti Magellanici Facies.
The shape of the Straits of Magellan, accurate and illuminated with great danger of several months and ...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
9
votes
Accepted
The many forms of William?
Why do so many forms of this name exist?
While modern usage prefers to translate names to an original or etymological form, it was once a more common practice to Latinize names with little change ...
- 156
9
votes
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"Non possunt dari" translation
English actually has this same construction! Think of it as analogous to the phrase "Granted that" or "It is given that." It's used in philosophy as part of a hypothetical dialogue.
In Latin, the "...
cmw♦
- 50.7k
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