Re: Translation to Latin

John Vertical wrote:
> I happen to have a question of this sort too. Can anyone suggest a specific
> name for a binomial (the genus I have) that would mean "poked with a stick"?
> I came up with "virgulafossum" after consulting some dictionaries, but
> that's probably five different kinds of wrong.
Probably not five   :)

One straight away: the normal 'connecting morpheme' in Latin compounds
is -i- (just as in Greek it was -o-), so *virgulifossum [neuter] or
*virgulifossus [masc.] would be more likely.

How big is the stick? _virgula_ = little twig, a small rod, a wand. It's
the diminutive of _virga_ = a slender branch, a rod; a rod [for
beating]. It is found in compound _virgidemia_ = a harvest of rods, i.e.
a harvest of stripes or blows (it's found in one of Plautus' comedies).

The other word you might have considered is _baculum_ = stick, staff, a
walking-stick.

_fossus_ (fem.: fossa, neut; fossum) is the perfect passive participle
of _fodere_ = to dig. But it also developed other derived meanings,
namely: to prick, goad, sting, poke, pierce, wound, stab.

So we could have I give the masculine forms):
*virgulifossus = pricked/ goaded/ stung/ poked/ wounded by a wand/ small
rod.
*virgifossus = pricked/ goaded/ stung/ poked/ wounded by a slender
branch/ rod [it would imply that the pricking, stinging etc was as a
result of being beaten by the branch/ rod]
*baculifossus = pricked/ goaded/ stung/ poked/ wounded by a (walking)
stick/ staff.

--
Ray
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