Re: Breaking Priscian's head

At 9:42 am -0500 22/2/99, John Cowan wrote:
>On the Lojban mailing list, someone wrote:
>
>> Tradutore tracidore.
>
>Hey, I like that!  "Translator, tracidor."
>
>There doesn't seem to be any Latin root "tracid-", alas, at least
>not that I can find easily.
>
>Ray?
...and none that I've discovered after effort either :)  - and I've let my
imagination stretch to the extremes of plausibility and tried everything I
can think of.

Actually, the -idor doesn't look Italian but Spanish; and the single -t-
instead of the -tt- would also suggest Spanish.  But, alas, the ending -ore
is no good and in any case: (a) the word is 'traductor' in Spanish and (b)
AFAIK tracidor doesn't exist  :)

Must be some aberrant dialect - problably spoken by one person who has
somehow got the English (and French) 'trace' muddled up with the idea of
betrayal & treachery.

>(Yeah, I know it's an error.
Well, yes, I suppose we mustn't rule out that possibilty

>My favorite translation of the
>original, *traduttore traditore*:  "Transductor, treasoner".)
   :-)

Ray.