medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 12/09/11, Christopher Crockett wrote:
> calling Joe's Tau Cain a "baculus" would seem to be something of a stretch.
Really? _baculus_ is the ordinary Latin word for 'staff'. All of the other meanings cited are particular developments from that. If you didn't find 'staff' as a meaning in _baculus_' entry in Niermeyer, that's because dictionaries of medieval Latin routinely do not repeat meanings well established in pre-Christian antiquity. Unless one has reason to think a Latin term a medieval or later neologism, one should start with dictionaries of ancient Latin when attempting to get a sense of its semantic field.
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|