Well Aristotle did write "History of Animals" and "Generation of Animals",
both regarded as seminal works on the subject...
The earliest reference I can find to Latin works are the "Bestiaries" by the
Dominican friar Albert the Great - but these are basically embellished
versions of Aristotle's works.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of L&L Knight
Sent: Tuesday, 9 June 2009 8:58 PM
To: Birding Aus
Subject: Accipiter v Accipiter
In the interests of relevance, perhaps the erudite members of group
might like to open a discussion of the Latin and Greek roots of
ornithological discourse ...
On 09/06/2009, at 8:43 PM, Scot Mcphee wrote:
>
> I just want to add that this habit for the abbreviation of Latin
> terms is not an English phenomenon at all either. Its usage dates
> from classical Latin itself, particularly that found in monumental
> epigraphy. A typical inscription that you might find on an altar for
> example as this one found at Maryport:
>
> I O M
> COH I HISP EQ
> CVI PRAEEST
> L ANTISTIVS L F
> QVIRINA LVPUS
> VERIANVS PRAEF
> DOMV SICCA
> EX AFRICA
>
> In Latin, this is "Iupitter Optimus Maximus Cohors Primae Hispanorum
> Equitata Cui Praeest Lucius Antistius Lucius Filius Quirina Lupus
> Verianus Praefectus Domu Sicca Ex Africa", or in English: "To
> Jupiter Best and Greatest, the First Cohort of Spaniards, part-
> mounted, under the command of the Prefect Lucius Antistius Lupus
> Verianus, son of Lucius, of the Quirine voting tribe, from Sicca in
> Africa (set this up)". (set this up) is meant but not written even
> in the Latin.
>
> The Roman god "Jupiter", is nearly always written on inscriptions as
> "I O M" or Iupitter Optimus Maximus (Jupiter Best and Greatest).
>
> Many other common forms abound, also at the end of a dedication one
> might have written V S L M or "Votum Soluit Libens Merito" or to
> translate, "willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow".
>
> Coinage also follows this sort of use, e.g. "IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO
> AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P" or "Imperator Caesar Nervae Trajano
> Augustus Germanicus Dacius Pontifex Maximus Tribinicia Potestas
> Consul V Pater Patriae" or translated "Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajan
> Augustus Germanicus Dacius, Chief Priest, Tribunican Power (for
> life), Consul Five Times, Father of the Fatherland". (Germanicus
> Dacius are names given to him to indicate he conquered, or won
> battles against the Germans and the Dacians).
>
> Last, the Romans would usually never write their first name either.
> G. Iulius Caesar is Gaius Julius Caesar, conquerer of Gaul and
> murdered dictator-for-life. There are a whole bunch of standard
> abbreviations e.g. L==Lucius, Gn==Gnaeus, M==Marcus and so on.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 09/06/2009, at 18:02 , Paul Dodd wrote:
>
>> For a little bit of fun I thought I'd contribute to this debate...
>>
>> Initially I thought that the distinction between "v" and "vs" as
>> abbreviations was that legal practitioners tended to use "v" and
>> sportspeople and others used "vs". Checking through the various
>> documents
>> from solicitors in the various cases that I've been involved in
>> over the
>> years (as a business owner, not a criminal!), in cases where my
>> company has
>> been the plaintiff, the documents are addressed as ......
>> (plaintiff) v.
>> ...... (defendant) - where v. is the abbreviation for "versus",
>> obviously.
>> Curiously when my company is the defendant, the documents are
>> addressed as
>> ...... (defendant) a.t.s. ...... (plaintiff) - where a.t.s. is an
>> abbreviation of "at the suit of" - an English expression!
>>
>> I then searched my mind for the Latin that I learnt at school many
>> years
>> ago. And in almost every case the common convention for the
>> abbreviation of
>> Latin expressions is the initial letter of each word followed by a
>> period.
>> For example:
>>
>> e.g. exempli gratia (for example)
>> i.e. id est (that is)
>> q.e.d quod erat demonstrandum (which was to be shown or demonstrated)
>> A.D. Anno Domini (in the Year of the Lord)
>>
>> Modern usage tends to omit the periods between the letters, and
>> often the
>> period at the end.
>>
>> So what about "etc"? This is actually a concatenation of a Latin
>> word "et"
>> (meaning "and") and the abbreviation for another Latin word "cetera"
>> (meaning "other unspecified things"). Over the years "et" and "c."
>> have
>> merged into "etc." or "etc".
>>
>> For the religious Christian-minded, another well-known Latin
>> abbreviation is
>> "INRI" - Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of
>> the
>> Jews). Curiously, this phrase is often written without periods.
>>
>> Other Latin phrases are used today without abbreviation including
>> "ad hoc",
>> "ab initio", "ad infinitum", "annus horribilis", and so on.
>>
>> The only odd phrase I could find was "ad lib", which is a shortened
>> form of
>> "ad libitum" (at one's pleasure). A little more research indicated
>> this
>> phrase was always "ad libitum" until either 1919 or 1925 in America,
>> depending on the reference one believes, when the phrase "adlib"
>> was coined,
>> as one word.
>>
>>
>> So, in short, the "proper" abbreviation of "versus" is "v." with
>> "vs" being
>> a much more recent adoption.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:
>> On Behalf Of Rob Geraghty
>> Sent: Tuesday, 9 June 2009 9:18 AM
>> To:
>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Accipiter v Accipiter
>>
>>
>> Just a point of pedantry not related to birding - can anyone tell
>> me when it
>> became common to concatenate "versus" to "v" rather than "vs"? I am
>> guessing it's something advertisers began to make headlines
>> narrower, a bit
>> like the new habit of leaving out the words "hundred" and
>> "thousand" in
>> advertising to make 17,990 sound smaller.
>>
>> This is not a criticism of anyone on the list. I'm honestly
>> curious if
>> anyone noticed when this use of "v" began.
>>
>> Rob
>>
>> PS Ob-birding: miserable weekend for birding in Canberra. Cold,
>> windy, and
>> the birds had very sensibly looked elsewhere for shelter. :(
>> =======
>> Rob Geraghty
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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