Re: OT: graffitum

Mark J. Reed wrote:
> I have long used "grafitto" as a singular for "grafitti", and I may even
> have seen it used that way in a newspaper article.
You may well have done. For those who know any serious arch(a)eology,
'graffito' should be well enough known. The word is, indeed, Italian and
both the singular and the plural have been long used in arch(a)eology
well before the plural passed into popular speech.

> My personal tendency in
> this regard is to inflect as much as possible, so I'm not a reliable source;
> I also routinely refer to an individual pasta noodle as a "spaghetto". :)
That is indeed also correct Italian. It is a diminutive of 'spago' = "rope."

> On 7/28/07, Geoff Horswood <geoffhorswood@...> wrote:
>
>>It's a slightly ironic pseudo-Latin term that I've
>>heard being used as a singular of "graffiti" - ironic
>>in that using a "high intellectual" language like
>>Latin for something slightly thuggish and uncouth is,
>>well, ironic.
>>
>>I, not often needing a singular for "graffiti",
>>assumed that the person I heard using "graffitum" knew
>>more than I did.  Maybe they're just as ignorant.
No, _more_ ignorant, I am sure, because:
(a) 'graffiti' is Italian, not Latin. A Latin word derived from Greek
'graphein' would be spelled with _ph_ in the middle, not _ff_.
(b) Even if it were Latin the singular could not possibly be *graffitum.

Some one using *graffitum knows neither the origin of the word nor how
Latin singular & plurals work.

>>--- caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...>
[snip]
>>>
>>>"Graffitum" looks like a Latin 2nd declension neuter
>>>noun.  If this
>>>were so, the plural would be "graffita."
Well, of course! Yep - the plural of *graffitum would be *graffita, and
the singular of 'graffiti', if it were Latin (which it ain't), would be
*graffitus. But then, as I've I said, if it were Latin we wouldn't have
the _ff_.

BTW I've commonly seen 'grafitti' and even 'grafitty' - I kid you not {sigh}

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB]

Reply