Cool Cash

Canadian currency has become interesting in the past few years. Coins are colorful and commemorative in many ways. This year at Canada Post I found gift sets of coins (lacking pennies for the first time in Canadian history) to acknowledge weddings and births of 2013. At $19.95CDN (+ 15% HST, i.e., harmonized sales tax), these gifts are a pretty solid money-maker, as the combined total of the coins ($2 + $1 + .25. + .10 + .05 = $3.40) plus the expense of the card, plastic sleeve, and envelope surely amounts to far less than the $19.95 price. The set for babies includes a quarter with a pair of little bare feet on the reverse; the wedding set quarter has a pair of intertwined rings. Perhaps in the distant future these sets will accrue some value. But what catches my eye even more than the images is the inscription in Latin around the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse of every Canadian coin: ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA, standing for ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA, translated ELIZABETH II QUEEN BY THE GRACE OF GOD. A Canadian dollar is a coin with a loon on the reverse; they are known as loonies. The newer two-dollar coin therefore has the nickname of toonies. I keep a handful of toonies, loonies, quarters, dimes, nickels, and now outmoded pennies on my desk at school for instant access to international, current Latin.

Language on the Offense

I love the use of language terms in this poem, and I hope to find out more about John Agard's study of Latin.

Pandora's Vox

Yes, you read the title correctly. I heard a marvelous harpist, Alys Howe, at the Boxwood Festival concert in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia this week. Searching for more information about her recordings, I found also that Alys Howe had performed with a group called Pandora's Vox. A typo, I thought, until I watched a video about the group. Pandora's box is the mythological container that held both all the world's woes and hope. Why would a woman's choral group call itself Pandora's Vox? The Latin noun vox, vocis f. means "voice;" does this group sing of all the world's woes but also offer songs of hope? Searching a little more I found that one of the members of the Vox is named-- Pandora! From vox, vocis we also have in English vocal (pertaining to voice), and the trade name Magnavox means "great/big voice." The Latin verb vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātum means "I call (i.e., use my voice)," and gives us all of the -voke, -vocative, and -vocation words: avocation (a calling away), convoke (I call together), evoke (I call out), invoke (I call on), provoke (I call forth), vocation (a calling). Pandora's Vox is provocative!

Trojan Swimmers

A brief mention in the Halifax Chronicle Herald alerted me to HTAC, the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club. Founded in 1967, the centennial anniversary of Canada, the club dominates the competitive swimming scene in Atlantic Canada. Although I could not find a reason for their choosing Trojans as their name, the phrase in English to work like a Trojan has meant to work tirelessly to achieve a goal, such as the Trojans faced in keeping off for ten years the combined forces of the Greeks. I guess these young athletes are swimming like Trojans, and good luck to them! One last note: the HTAC practices in the Dalplex, the athletic center at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The combining form -plex is very productive in English from the Latin verb plicō, plicāre meaning "I fold," and appearing in words like duplex (two-fold), multiplex (many-fold), complex (folded-with/together), and complexity (a folding-with/together), and slightly more disguised words like accomplice (one folded-together-to/toward), explicit (out-folded), implicit (in-folded), replicate(make fold again), simplicity (single-foldedness), multiplicity (many-foldedness), and complicitous (full of/having to do with folded together).

Marketing Latin in Canada

I am just beginning to use Twitter as a resource, and I came upon this interview from Alberta, a fitting entry here. (The video graphics sound/look choppy, but the actual interview is smooth.) In a narrowly focused discussion, a marketing professor explains why Latin is a source of current branding trends. I am always amazed at the riches contained in Latin, a never-ending source of human linguistic creativity.

A Pleasant Connection

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember watching a late-night television show about new businesses, and I learned about a store in Hong Kong called AMO ENO. This wine store's name means "I love wine," and it yields another classical frisson besides its name from a Latin verb and a Greek combining form. The Latin verb is amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum "I love," and the Greek combining form is oino-, which changed to oeno-, which was shortened to eno- and means "wine." The Latin noun is spelled vīnum, "wine." Using all Greek forms a wine lover is an oenophile, sometimes spelled enophile. When you look at the web address (www.amoeno.com), you will also see a form of a Latin adjective amoenus, a, um, "pleasant." The name of a town in Dutchess County, New York takes its name from this Latin adjective; Amenia, New York, is indeed a pleasant place.

Colorful Words

I’ve been reading a book all about color called All About Colour by Janice Lindsay. (You can tell the author is Canadian by the spelling of colour, which follows the spelling rules of England.) Ms Lindsay has added greatly to my list of common Latin words and phrases, as over the course of the last couple of days I have read the words dictum, gravitas, and proviso. Dictum is a Latin noun formed from the perfect passive participle of the verb dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dictum which means “I say;” in English a dictum is a saying or an authoritative pronouncement. Gravitās is a Latin noun that means “heaviness, seriousness,” and is also the source of English gravity, the force that keeps things and people grounded. In English gravitas means “seriousness or importance,” and is a term often found to describe candidates for high public offices. Proviso comes from the Latin verb prōvideō, prōvidēre, prōvīdī, prōvīsum “I see ahead, take care, foresee.” From this verb also comes the Latin participle/adjective prūdēns, “foreseeing,” source of the English adjective prudent. A proviso is a thing foreseen or provided for, a condition, stipulation, or restriction, especially in legal documents. Latin always makes English more colorful.

Green Wood

A recent story in the business section of the Halifax Chronicle Herald featured two energy companies, one called Viridis from British Columbia and the other formerly called Enligna Canada. Viridis takes its name from the Latin adjective viridis, viride which means “green,” and Enligna from the Latin noun lignum, lignī n. which means “wood.” You will not be surprised to learn that Enligna Canada was a biomass wood-pellet manufacturer, and that Viridis is also a biomass energy company. Latin is a dependable source of names for innovative enterprises.

Building a Name

I saw an advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle Herald this morning for a company called Cresco. Can you guess the nature of the business? The Latin verb crēscō, crēscere, crēvī, crētum means “I arise, increase, grow,” and Cresco is a company that builds houses, increases neighborhoods. From crēscō come English words increase and decrease as well as crescent (increasing), concrete (grown together), concretion (a growing together), and accretion (a growing to/toward). Another company name that comes from a first person singular Latin verb is Volvo; the Latin verb volvō, volvere, volvī, volūtum means “I roll,” and in addition to being the name of a Swedish car company gives us many English verbs ending in –volve [devolve (roll down), evolve (roll out), involve (roll in/into), revolve (roll back/again)] and also the English noun volume, as in a book. Volume is an excellent reminder that “books” for ancient Romans needed to be rolled, because they were scrolls.

Historical Latin

One of the books I brought with me to Nova Scotia is an art book called The Bayeux Tapestry which I bought years ago from a library book sale. This book was published in 1957 by Phaidon Press, and noticing the publisher's name in attractive lettering on the cover, I was curious about this company name. From the Phaidon website I found this paragraph about the early history of the company: The company was founded in Vienna in 1923 by Dr Bela Horovitz and Ludwig Goldscheider. Their first titles were not art books, but were on literature, philosophy and history. A German edition of Plato's works was among their first books. Horovitz took the name of Phaidon, a pupil of Socrates and speaker in Plato's dialogue on the immortality of the soul, as the name of his company (Phaidon is the German version of the name; in English it is Phaedo). It reflected his love of classical antiquity and culture. From the very beginning, great attention was paid to value and design, two factors that remain key today. Horovitz's objective was to deliver quality books at an affordable price; Goldscheider's contribution came in the elegant layout and handsome production. According to its web site Phaidon Press is the “world’s premier publisher of books on the visual arts.” My book from over fifty years ago is beautifully produced with excellent photos of the tapestry. My students will be translating the Latin titles from some of the panels this fall, and while we can find the panels on line, we will also enjoy having the book handy for quick reference.

A Netful of Salmon

In Seashores of the Maritimes by Merritt Gibson, my on-shelf reference book for plants and birds that I see outside my windows, I discovered a trove of words relating to Atlantic salmon. These salmon are classified as Salmo salar in binomial nomenclature; salmō, salmōnis m. is the Latin noun for “salmon,” and salar is an adjective meaning “leaping, jumping,” from the Latin verb saliō, salīre, saluī, saltum “I leap, spring.” All of these salmon words have great crossword-puzzle or Free-Rice potential, beginning with redd (origin unknown, “a hollow in gravel dug by a female salmon”). Then the male and female deposit milt (originally “spleen,” but here “roe/fish eggs and fish sperm”) into the redd, and having spawned are called kelts (origin unknown). The young salmon are called parr (origin unknown), and develop into smolts (of doubtful origin). Salmon that have been to sea for one year are called grilse (of unknown origin). Probably there are other terms in the salmon world, but these are the ones that swam into my reading today. One final note: Seashores of the Maritimes is published by Nimbus Publishing Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia; nimbus, nimbī m. is a Latin noun that means “cloud, rain, storm.”

Pega-what?

Looking through the pharmacy shelves in our local Canadian grocery store, I discovered an unmistakable classical connection, but I’m not sure of the reason behind it, nor do I wish to explore further, but here it is: Pegalax, a laxative for the relief of constipation. The design on the package is great, and we do have English words from the Latin root laxō, laxāre a verb which means “I open out, undo, slacken,” including relax (undo from work, as on a vacation) and lax (slack in upholding rules or requirements). In mythology Pegasus is the great winged horse who sprang from the blood of Medusa.

Earthly Words

The Halifax Chronicle Herald runs a Vintage Nova Scotia photograph daily, and today on page A2 the photo featured a tellurometer, a measuring tool used by the Lawrencetown Land Survey Institute in May, 1966. Here is a picture from a stamp of a tellurometer and its inventor. In Latin tellus, telluris f. is a noun that means “earth, soil, land, country, world,” a synonym for the more familiar terra, terrae f. "earth, land, ground, country, region.” From both of these Latin roots we have wonderful English words such as tellurian (of the earth; terrestrial), telluric (relating to the earth), terrene (mundane, earthly), terreplein (level space behind a parapet of a rampart where guns are mounted), terricolous (living on or in the ground), terrier (a dog originally used by hunters to dig animals out of the earth), and terrigenous (born of earth or relating to oceanic sediment derived from rocks on the earth’s surface). Also from terra is tureen (an earthenware dish for serving food), but not terrapin (Algonquian, a kind of turtle) or terry (French, from the verb which means “to draw”) as in terry cloth. I enjoyed consulting Webster's New Encyclopedic Dictionary as well as dictionary.com and the Oxford English Dictionary. The perfect adjective to describe the state of the yard after six days of pouring rain here in Nova Scotia is terraqueous (consisting of land and water).