Re: Latin help

Mark J. Reed wrote:
>On 9/6/07, Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
> > My Sw/Lat dictionary has _fidicula pelliculata_ for "banjo". I'll leave
> > "strumming on" to someone with a clue wrt stringed instruments ...
>
>That's tough.  The verb "strum" didn't exist in English until the late
>18th cent, and is probably onomotopoeiac in origin.   So I'm not sure
>where one would look for a Latin word of similar meaning... one might
>have to settle for "pluck" vel sim instead.
>
"Fidicula pelliculata" is an awful lot of sylalalables......"Lute" is
similar-- Span. laúd, Ital. liuto etc. is from Arab. (al ud or somesuch)
but must have a Late Latin equivalent.

How about some verb associated with "playing" the harp, which Latins must
have had... Hmm, where does "plectrum" come from?

Spanish surely has lots of vocab. related to guitar playing (but not in my
dictionary nor in my ken)-- perhaps some would reflect Latin material.

ObConlang!! Kash has tepet 'strum, play a stringed instrument'; (slang)
sexual foreplay :-)))

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