Comments | mizkit: drive-by update

mizkit

drive-by update

May 06, 2008 11:07

I started exercising about ten days ago. Ted has lost three pounds. *squinchy face* He said to me, “Keep up whatever you’re doing!” :) *laughs* *Men*. :)

Uh. Research questions: what’s the Italian for sorrow? Is “prime” the Latin plural of “primus”, and is it too mortally offensive to essentially Anglicize that and turn it into “primes” for a ( Read more... )

exercise, livejournal knows all

Comments 39

curiosity May 6 2008, 11:10:18 UTC

Might I recommend little_details?

mizkit May 6 2008, 11:15:34 UTC

Oh, yeah, I forget about that community even though I've been pointed at it several times. I shall go there if the knowledge of my own LJ flist fails me, though it hasn't yet. :) Thank you!

curiosity May 6 2008, 11:19:55 UTC

*salutes*

la_marquise_de_ May 6 2008, 11:20:53 UTC

The Latin plural of primus varies according to the gender of the following noun. So: primi if the noun is masculine, primae if feminine, prima if neuter. An 's' is not added in any of these cases. The modern word 'prime' derives from all this (via Old French) but in its noun form is singular as prime, with primes as its plural.
Is that of any use at all?

mizkit May 6 2008, 11:44:41 UTC

Should've read this before I responded to the following comment. :) So a group of males would be 'primi'?

la_marquise_de_ May 6 2008, 17:04:15 UTC

Yes, primi.
Kari (mediaeval historian who has to read too much Latin at work)

liret May 6 2008, 11:24:31 UTC

Ordinals decline like second declension adjectives, so you would pluralize primus as primi (or primae or primum, for female or neuter.)

mizkit May 6 2008, 11:43:49 UTC

Would a group of males be primi or primum?

dancinghorse May 6 2008, 12:18:11 UTC

Primum is neuter singular. Neuter plural is prima.

You want primi.

Signed, The Latin PhD on your flist

mizkit May 6 2008, 12:23:26 UTC

Oooh, thank you, Latin PhD! *beams* That's perfect. I think readers will grok primi as a plural. (Oddly, that's what I first had, and then I started trying to actually figure out what it was and got all confused and had to ask LJ-who-knows-all. :))

Thread 6

I'm not even close to fluent, but I'll take a stab at it... suricattus May 6 2008, 12:24:46 UTC

What kind of sorrow do you need? Sadness brings to mind tristezza, a regretful sorrow makes me think dispiacere, and there's also doloroso, which may be what you were looking for....?

Re: I'm not even close to fluent, but I'll take a stab at it... mizkit May 6 2008, 12:28:03 UTC

It's the name of a ship, actually, and regretful sorrow is contextually the idea I want to get across. Dispiacere may well be my word. Thank you! (I know I've got a couple native Italian-speakers on my flist, so hopefully one of them will chime in and make sure this is right. :))

Re: I'm not even close to fluent, but I'll take a stab at it... unixronin May 6 2008, 12:50:25 UTC

Regretful Sorrow sounds almost Culture-ish.

Re: I'm not even close to fluent, but I'll take a stab at it... suricattus May 6 2008, 13:13:38 UTC

Just remember to make her feminine!

(also "started exercising"? Because all that walking you were doing was just, y'know, totally slothful...)

Thread 17

logrusboy May 6 2008, 13:09:04 UTC

Way to go, Ted! Keep up the good work! Er.... :)

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More than one "Prime"? Why does that rub me the same wrong way as "giving 110%"? :)

Just kidding! I trust that you will make it make perfect sense in context. I can already think of a couple of ways to do so myself, not even counting having it derive from people misusing their words--which is, of course, completely realistic.