Isn't "ashes," though, a useful term for the little bits of things that
turn up in old graves? Does one have to take this literally?
Diana Wright
Francesco Bonomi wrote:
> At 18.02 21/07/99 +0100, you wrote:
> >
> >Dear Mrs. Rawson,
> >
> >in fact I posed myself the same question. But "cenere"
> >has an extended meaning:
> >
> >cenere s. m ................... 3 (spec. al pl.)
> > Polvere a cui si riducono i cadaveri, spec.
> > quelli un tempo arsi sul rogo ¦ (est., poet. al sing.
> > m.) Resti mortali: " 'ntorno al cener muto ... / stuol
> > di meste sirene ancor s'aggira" (MARINO) ¦ Ridurre
> > qc. in cenere, (fig.) farlo morire ¦ Risorgere
> > dalle ceneri, risuscitare.
> >
> >(from lo Zingarelli 2000)
> >
>
> Mr. Enriques is very right, but perhaps did not stress enough
> the "s.m.". What I wanted to say is that in this meaning,
> cenere is (often) MASCULINE, not feminine.
> (This of course applies to the literary language!)
>
> >From good old Tommaseo:
> >Cenere s.f. (Chim) [Selm.] S'intende il residuo bigio, polveroso,
> >che rimane della combustione completa delle piante e del carbone
> >in genere. Per estensione si chiamano Ceneri le Ossa e Scheletri
> >degli animali che furono arsi, e che poi si riducono in polvere.
>
> But later:
> >[T.] Il cenere, masc., o Le ceneri, d'avanzi di corpo morto.
>
> Anyway, what is more than certain is that Dante was NOT burnt!!!
>
> Ciao
> Francesco Bonomi
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