Re: res nata

--- Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:

> > Is it
> > related to birth? or fish? or buttocks?
>
> Fish? Not buttocks (nates)
Ah, now that would be a good one! Non habeo res
nates! ;)

> > Also, what is the source of the
> Italian/Sicilian
> > niente/nente
>
> Trying had to remember - Is it from *ne ente9m)
> (not a being)??
Could be. Ens doesn't show up in Classical Latin,
but does in later writing.

> > and the Romanian nimic?
>
> That I would also like to know.
Can't say for sure, but looks like it could be
from ne mica = not a crumb. Kerno does exactly
the same thing, except for prepending ne- to its
negative particles:

Noi n-am vãzut nimic! = Ne couidem nus mick! (We
didn't see a thing!)

I understand that Romanian is fond of such
negative constructions, but I'm not sure to what
extent they are used. Kerno, I think, has gone
further than any other Romance language in
codifying which particles can be used in which
semantic fields.

There are also nimica (= nimic); and the
adjective mic = small, tiny, young, etc.

Alas! There apparently wás an etymological
dictionary of Proto-Romanian online; but it seems
to have disappeared.

Padraic.



=====
la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.


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