Juno in Jewelry

I've been de-cluttering. This afternoon I found a jewelry advertisement I saved from a local newspaper about a year ago. I spied a brand in very tiny letters called Juno Lucina, a producer of gifts for mothers, appropriately named, for the Roman goddess of women and childbirth is Juno. As protector of women in childbirth, she is called Juno Lucina. Towards the back of the advertising insert, I also noticed a brand of men's rings called Triton. In Greco-Roman mythology Triton was a god of the sea, a son of Poseidon/Neptune, half man, half fish. I admire the Triton jewelry logo; it turns a T into a trident, the traditional symbol of gods of the sea. Latin lives on in jewelry boxes everywhere.

Wasp Etymology

I read a wide variety of publications, and today I read an article about insects in the June 2015 issue of the Finnish American Reporter that has a Latin angle to it. The article is about the naming of a new species of wasp for the Boston Bruins' goalie, Tuukka Rask. The wasp has the genus name Thaumatodryinus and the new species name tuukkaraski, which follows the format of ending in -i, as specified by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Mr. Rask, winner of the 2014 Vezina Trophy for best goalie in the NHL, is also the goalie for the Finnish National ice hockey team, and, to quote the article, "whose glove hand is as tenacious as the raptorial fore tarsus of this dryinid species." More information can be found in the delightfully Latinate scientific journal Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae.

On Track with Vulcan

We still love this Roman god of fire, Vulcan. He continues to surface in technological arenas of all kinds, and I will continue to write about him. Today's entry is a ridiculously limited edition Aston Martin track-only automobile; only twenty-four will be made. As I look at the lines, the facets, the details, I cannot envision the god Vulcan behind the wheel, but I do believe he would be proud of the lines/engineering.

MOXIE Redivivus

Redivivus is a Latin adjective that means "living again, renewed, renovated."  In the last century or earlier, Moxie was a brand-name for a soft drink originally made in Maine, and it is still available in certain areas of the world. The soft drink was so widely advertised that the name became a noun in common use to stand for "vigor, pep, boldness, courage, nerve."

MOXIE is a new acronym used by Nasa to simplify the name of an instrument that will be deployed on the Mars 2020 mission. MOXIE stands for Mars Oxygen ISRU (in situ resource utilization) Experiment. The Latin phrase in situ means "on site, on location" from the noun situs, sitūs m. "site, location" and the preposition in meaning "in/on." Once you read about the job of the MOXIE, you will agree that Nasa is making a bold plan into the future.

Winged Victory

In the mall earlier today I saw this store window and had to take a picture. Nike is advertising its running shoe named for Pegasus, the famous winged horse of Greco-Roman mythology. How appropriate a classical sighting, combining a mythological flying horse with the Greek goddess of victory, on this weekend when American Pharoah, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, will try for the Triple Crown at Belmont Park. Here is a little more information about Nike Pegasus.

I Can, Too

Driving back to school today I saw a license plate with this message: I-CANTU. In Latin the word cantus, cantūs m. means "song," and in the ablative singular form, cantū, it means "by, with, or from a song." So could this license plate mean "I (exist) (because of/by) song"? Or perhaps "I (am) with song"? Or possibly "#1: by song"? More likely: "I can, too"! But I do wonder what it is I can do, don't you?

The Latin verb canō, canere, cecinī, cantum means "I sing," and it is one of the opening words of Vergil's great epic poem, the Aeneid. The poem begins, "Arma virumque canō: I sing of arms and a man/hero." In English from this Latin verb we have the words canticle, a song or hymn and cantor, a religious official who sings or chants prayers in a synagogue.

Probably only the author of the license plate knows the truth, but I can try, too.

Seize the territory!

What can Latin do for you? This article came my way, and I was happy to read (again) about the benefits of studying Latin. I am also interested in the company name, Capterra. It looks like a word formed from two Latin roots, cap (from capiō, capere, cēpī, captum I take) and terra (from terra, ae f. land) yielding a possible meaning of "Take the land!" When you read the name out loud, however, you may hear "Cap'terra," a word that could suggest "Capture!" This company may wish to capture your business!