Nephele

Birthday hails to you, Aurelia! -- Nephele

$100? Wow, the price for that kind of test has really come down! I took Oxford Ancestors' mitochrondrial DNA test five years ago and I remember it cost twice that amount. And now, when you get mad at your parents, you can no longer shout: "I must have been adopted into this family!" -- Nephele

Birthday hails, Doc! Have a wonderful b'day and fabulous new year! -- Nephele

My materialistic nature compels me to celebrate any holiday that involves PRESENTS! Joyous Saturnalia to all! -- Nephele

I would love a wall map of the city of Rome, itself. When I was a kid in Latin class, we had this gorgeous city map on the wall, and it depicted the buildings in a sort of 3-D effect. You could stare at that map and actually imagine yourself walking through the ancient city. I've hunted around for that map for years, and have never found it. -- Nephele

Birthday hails to you, Kosmo! -- Nephele

You're leading me in Davis' books like a breakout auriga! I'm only partway through LAIP. I love the story arc of all these novels, and I especially love the way Helena Justina assists Falco in his sleuthing. They remind me so much of the patrician Nora and her somewhat seedy detective mate, Nick Charles, in those old The Thin Man movies. I know from having read a couple of the later novels (before I started reading them in order) that Falco even has a dog as Nick had. Now that I'm reading the novels in order, I'm curious as to when Nux (the counterpart to Asta) will make her first appearance. -- Nephele

Carissimus means "dearest." You could also say: "PATER CARISSIMUS ATQUE AMANTISSIMUS." ("Dearest and also Most Loved Father.") -- Nephele

gladiator = gladiatrix (leave the "o" out) Same of course for all male versions ending on -tor become -trix in the female version. Oops! Typo. -- Nephele

Ha! Some fancy footwork there, CoG. I have to admit, though, that even Lewis & Short probably isn't ideal for these purposes, as Lewis & Short includes late Latin and ecclesiastical Latin. For a dictionary of classical Latin (which just includes words in use up to the year 200 C.E.), the Oxford Latin Dictionary would be the better source. But I haven't got one of those handy. The OLD is on my wish list. -- Nephele

Oh, it's not so superb. Glossa's Latin entries are not only lifted entirely from Lewis & Short (a truly superb source for Latin etymologies), but the Greek source words duplicated in Glossa's entries are missing letters. Check the "see also" entry for Threissa: Tracia. The Greek source words given are missing the letter theta, thereby making no sense at all. It must be some glitch in their transcription (theft) of Lewis & Short. -- Nephele

Thanks, Doc, for the Latin assist. And thanks, Medusa, for the additional information on gladiators.

Hahahaha! Hope that sneak preview pic Russ provided will tide you over, CoG! And, before you posted your wish list, Russ, I'd consulted my massive volume of Lewis & Short and I think I may have figured out the following feminine forms (quiet, CoG!) for you: Andabatissa, Andabatina (female andabata, mostly based on the Agrippa/Agrippina forms Bellatrix (female fighter) Bestiaria (female fighter of beasts) Bipennifera (female fighter armed with a two-edged axe) Clavatrix (female fighter armed with a club) Falcifera (female fighter armed with a scythe) Funditrix (female fighter armed with a sling) Retiaria (female fighter who uses a net) Sagittaria (female archer) Threissa, Thressa (female Thraex/Thrax/Threx/Thracian

Me too. I'm not quite through Poseidon's Gold yet. I'm loving Lindsey Davis' turns of phrase so much. I have to remember snarky expressions such as: "I found him about as exciting as watching a bird-bath evaporate." lol -- Nephele

I'm pretty certain that the loss of a child's bulla (young, unmarried girls wore something like bullae, too, although what they wore was a less prominent, protective amulet) wouldn't change the child's free-born status. And, while I couldn't find any references as to what the consequences would be for such a careless child, I think we can safely speculate that the traditionally stern Roman pater would give such a youngster a sound whuppin. -- Nephele

Actually, Lindsey Davis does mention the Colosseum being built -- in her novel Two for the Lions. I know this because that was one of the two novels in the Falco series that I read out of order. In the novel [not a spoiler] there's a lot of rivalry going on between gladiatorial schools and beast collectors, who are hopefully vying for contracts for when the Colosseum (called Vespasian's new amphitheatre) is completed. Haven't a clue, and I'm avoiding trying to find out by going to Wikipedia or other sources because I don't want to spoil the story arc, now that I'm reading the novels in their correct order. If you find out, don't post it here without using spoiler blocks! -- Nephele

The Latin word for "Father" is "Pater." I suppose if you wanted to express the fact that you hold your father in highest and most affectionate esteem, you could use "Pater Carissimus." As for ancient Roman writing -- the Romans used the same alphabet as ours, for the most part (and in capital letters). Roman cursive writing might make an interesting tattoo. A Google search on "Roman cursive" should bring up some examples of how the different letters of the alphabet appeared. Welcome to UNRV, and condolences to you regarding your dad. He sounds like he was quite a guy. -- Nephele

I'm a public library administrator. I think that Roger Pearse (whoever the fook he is) could not begin to imagine the immensity of the fook I do not give for his opinion. -- Nephele

Thanks for the offer, GoC! But I found two pages of Lindsey Davis' novels in audio format at Amazon. These don't appear to be read by Hamilton, though (unless I missed his name somewhere). I'm going to be ordering a bunch today for my library. -- Nephele

I didn't know there were audiobooks for the series! I've never heard of Andy Hamilton, but Falco has such a dry irony so perhaps a comedian is a good choice as the reader. I'm going to see about ordering the audiobooks for my public library, so then I can borrow them for free. -- Nephele

I'm a good way into Poseiden's Gold. Totally hooked on Falco. And, yes, the bull dancing was a bit over the top in the previous novel. Hahaha! -- Nephele

Ah! Wiki or no, you're still pretty clever, GoC. Okay, I checked out the Discussion Page for the Wiki article on "Tally Stick" (your direct link doesn't appear to be working), and here is what they gave: "The saying 'the short end of the stick' has no known relationship with the concept of split tallies. (See the article - The Long Story of The Short End of the Stick, Charles Clay Doyle, American Speech, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 96-101.)" I believe this is the article to which they are referring: retrieved from JSTOR. Since this topic relates more to general history (the possible ancient or medieval origin of a popular expression), I'm moving it to the Historia in Universum forum. -- Nephele

Hmmm... What's to stop you from simply destroying your half of the tally stick, and never going back at all to that rather forgetful merchant? I've never heard that explanation before for the expression "short end of the stick." I have to say that the complexity of it suggests to me that it's a story that's been passed around too many times to be true. Do you have a reference for it, GoC? -- Nephele

Hmmm... That's not implausible at all, if you're talking about the expression "got the wrong end of the stick." -- Nephele

I think it was the poet Catullus, actually. Now you