Category: Latin
-
Phrase of the Day: ‘Infra Dig’
I just came across the following sentence in Charles R. Kesler's Claremont Review of Books article, Thinking about Trump: It is not entirely clear whether his liberal and conservative critics disapprove of Trump because he violates moral law or because he is infra dig. The 'infra dig' threw me for a moment until I realized…
-
Latin Word of the Day: Naufragium
Shipwreck
-
Latin Versus Italian: Differences
An enjoyable thirteen-minute video.
-
A Note on Vox Clamantis in Deserto
This just over the transom from London Ed: Pedantic, but I think you will secretly enjoy it. Matt. 3:3 quoting Isaiah 40:3. The Vulgate has Vox clamantis in deserto: parate viam Domini. [Right, I checked both quotations in my Biblia Vulgata.] There has always been a question about the parsing of this. Is it A…
-
Agenda Fetishism
You know you're list-obsessive when, having completed a task, you add an entry to your 'to do' list just so you can cross it off. ………………… Agenda is the plural of agendum, something to be done. The infinitive form of the corresponding verb is agere, to do. Age quod agis is a well-known saying which…
-
Nulla Dies Sine Linea: Bad Medieval Latin?
No day without a line. Should it be nullus dies sine linea? I don't know. The maxim in the form nulla dies sine linea entered my vocabulary circa 1970 from my study of Kierkegaard. The Dane had taken it as the motto for his prodigious journals in the sense of 'No day without a written…
-
Teaching Latin to Black Kids
An encouraging development. What happened to Ebonics? It be a dead language, aks anyone in da hood.
-
Cacoethes Scribendi
The fan is on and my shirt is off. The Sonoran spring is sprung. Spring fever in the form of cacoethes scribendi has me in her sweet grip. A weird mix of Greek and Latin, cacoethes scribendi means compulsion to write. ‘Cacoethes’ is a Latinization of the Greek kakoethes, which combines kakos (‘bad’) with ethos…
-
Friday Cat Blogging! Is This Kitty Syllogizing?
Weiche dem Größeren, aber verachte nicht den Kleineren! Yield to the greater, but scorn not the lesser! When I first glanced at this graphic I read it as: While I concede the major (premise), I do not scorn the minor! But that would be Maiori cedo, sed non contemno minorem. Or at least I…