User talk:Iazyges
It is around 08:05 where this user lives in Texas. ()
May thanks[edit]
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Thank you for improving articles in May! - Today's story mentions a concert I loved to hear (DYK) and a piece I loved to sing in choir, 150 years old (OTD). --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:03, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
Today's story is about Samuel Kummer, one of five items on the Main page - more musing on my talk - I read your FAC article on a train, will comment, hopefully tomorrow --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:04, 30 May 2024 (UTC)
Hi, could you provide a review of this article here? Thanks for your time, Wolverine XI (talk to me) 05:25, 30 May 2024 (UTC)
Latin in signature[edit]
Hi Iazyges, I just saw your signature (Consermonor Opus meum) and wanted to let you know that the Latin in it is rather awkward.
Cōnsermōnor means 'I have a conversation', and is a bit like someone would use "I talk" in English to link to their talk page. It's the first person singular, which in Latin is used to refer to verbs in a general and abstract sense (English uses the infinitive for this, e.g. 'to talk'). What you'd probably want when using the (very rare) verb cōnsermōnor in idiomatic Latin is something like cōnsermōnēmur ('let's have a conversation'/'let's talk'). Alternatives are confābŭlēmur (same meaning but somewhat less rare form, and much more informal), cōnfābŭlātĭō (informal 'conversation'/'discussion'/'talk'), sermōcĭnēmur (much less rare than cōnsermōnor and also slightly formal), or sermōcĭnātĭō ('conversation'/'discussion'/'talk'). The most common word for this meaning is collŏquāmur ('let's talk'), also rather informal, though the substantive in this case collŏquĭum ('conversation'/'discussion'/'talk') would seem slightly awkward (collŏquĭum suggests a specific conversation, while the other terms in -ātĭō I mentioned are quasi verbal nouns which more readily indicate action).
As for opus meum, literally it means 'my work' but in actual usage it rather means something like 'my piece of workmanship' or 'my laborious craft'. Opus in singular strongly suggests a single large-scale project that one has completed. Better already would be ŏpĕra mea ('my works'), but that would still suggest a plurality of finished large-scale projects rather than small but ongoing contributions.
In my limited experience the most popular term for 'contributions' in neo-Latin is symbŏlae, though personally I have always found that awkward because despite the term itself being classically attested, it's a Greek loanword whose classical meaning is restricted to financial contributions (especially for a meal). Perhaps better would be to use contrĭbūtĭōnes, which is a post-classical term and also originally referred to financial contributions, but at least it is a Latin word. There's also the classical term collātĭōnes, which again originally referred to material contributions and has the added disadvantage of primarily meaning either 'hostile confrontations' or 'comparisons, analogies', but which does have the major advantage of being a form of the verb cōnfĕrō, which does have regular classical use in the meaning of 'to be useful to, to bring to the table, to contribute' (e.g. Quintilian 2, 19, 1 naturane plus ad eloquentiam conferat an doctrina 'whether nature contributes more to eloquence or learning').
In the end though Latin simply doesn't have an exact equivalent for the intended sense of 'contributions' here. Probably the best solution would be to use a completely different term to link to one's contribs, but I can't come up with something now. The safest route then would probably be to err on the conservative side and use the common term symbŏlae. If you would like to preserve the rare cōnsermōnor I suggest Consermonemur Symbolae, or else Sermocinatio Symbolae or (more informal) Confabulatio Symbolae.
Hope this helps, ☿ Apaugasma (talk ☉) 15:26, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- Sorry for the notifications bombardment, but let me just add that la.wiki uses dispŭtātiō for talk (e.g. la:Disputatio Usoris:Apaugasma) and conlātĭōnes (an alternative spelling of collātĭōnes) for contributions (e.g. la:Specialis:Conlationes/Apaugasma). I don't like dispŭtātiō, which classically means either 'consideration, deliberation, disquisition' or 'dispute, argument, debate'. In medieval usage dispŭtātiō also came to mean 'disputation' in the sense of an academic discussion, which is clearly the intended meaning on la.wiki, but that sounds rather heavy-handed and does not fit user talk pages very well ('hey, come to my talk, let's have a disputation!'). Classically the word only means 'discussion' in the sense of a heated or contentious discussion, which is an unfortunate association to have for wiki talk pages. As for conlātĭōnes, it's unusual as far as I'm aware (never heard it used in that sense elsewhere), but if a new term is to be coined it's a good option in my view. ☿ Apaugasma (talk ☉) 21:55, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- @Apaugasma: I appreciate the advice; I was never the greatest in Latin and did not devote the time I wish I could have. However, both of them are actually meant to be rather tongue-in-cheek, coming across as "yeah, I do speak, you can talk to me", and "This is my Herculean labor" (removing a doubled period). It was the best attempt at Latin for my 15-year-old self's sense of humor back in the day, although a little awkward in language. Jokes rarely translate well, sarcasm even less so. I do appreciate your time, and congrats on being the first to notice it. I plan to stick with my old signature for the present, but I will keep your suggestion in mind if I ever do decide to change it! -- Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 23:29, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
- I'm probably rather the first editor impertinent enough to confront you with it
. I'm not a native speaker of English, and I undoubtedly write some weird stuff here and there on talk pages, but I don't recall anyone ever explicitly noticing. People just tend to not be confrontational about that kind of thing. - If you want a sarcastic 'Herculean labors' effect, that would be opera mea (or with still more reference to Hercules labores mei 'my labors' or facinora mea 'my deeds'). Opus meum does not sound sarcastic, just like very bad Latin. Consermonor on the other hand does have a slightly humorous effect, not because it sounds sarcastic, but because it sounds absurd: 'con' means 'with', 'sermo' means 'talk', and the mediopassive '-or' means 'I myself', the accumulative effect of which is a bit like 'I talk to myself' or 'I am having a conversation with myself'.
- I fully understand why you would like to keep your signature as it is, especially if it's been like that for a very long time; I just thought you would like to know how it actually comes across to a rare Wikipedian who is conversant in Latin. Have a good weekend! ☿ Apaugasma (talk ☉) 14:05, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
- I'm probably rather the first editor impertinent enough to confront you with it
- @Apaugasma: I appreciate the advice; I was never the greatest in Latin and did not devote the time I wish I could have. However, both of them are actually meant to be rather tongue-in-cheek, coming across as "yeah, I do speak, you can talk to me", and "This is my Herculean labor" (removing a doubled period). It was the best attempt at Latin for my 15-year-old self's sense of humor back in the day, although a little awkward in language. Jokes rarely translate well, sarcasm even less so. I do appreciate your time, and congrats on being the first to notice it. I plan to stick with my old signature for the present, but I will keep your suggestion in mind if I ever do decide to change it! -- Iazyges Consermonor Opus meum 23:29, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
