medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Marjorie Greene <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I once had a student who thought the plural of "Roman" was "Romen."
gasp.
you mean it *isn't*?
following the true principles of proper anglicanization we're hammering out
here:
singular "cognoman," plural "cognomen" (or, as sometimes heard in
Southern Indiana, "cognomens");
"Roman" > "Romen(s)";
"Woeman", "Woemen(s)"; etc.,
remembering that it is only a *foolish* consistancy which is the little minds'
hobgobblin.
which is why it's best to stick to the Pure Latin, whenever possible.
if you can figure it out.
>I should have my Latin license revoked.
in a Just Universe, i suppose so.
certainly the Proper Authorities should be notified.
my own theory is that, while the Romens may have indeed drempt up and strictly
adheared to all those crazy rules and cases and Absolutes and Whatnot,
sometime in the second century (P.E.) all the Manuals for the language were
lost (rather like Buckminster Fuller's idea that the Operating Manual for
Planet Earth has been lost), and the poor Middlevils were thrown back on their
own resources to make it up as they went along.
from that point on, while everyone *pretended* to know how to read and write
the language, it was actually pretty much up for grabs and, as it were, an ad
hoc exercise.
combine that linguistic situation with a strong mental inclination for seeing
the whole phenomenal world as nothing more a nest of congruent symbolic (or
allegorical) boxes and you have a formula for a disaster waiting to happen.
hence the Hundred Years' War.
with the Renaissance, new Rules were written (or "rediscovered") and, through
a combination of intense peer pressure and the obviously dreadful muddle the
Middlevils had made of things, practiced.
with the result that Renaissance Latin is even more illegible than that
of either the Romens or the Middlevils.
Q.E.D.
best from here,
christopher
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