10:05 PM
> Callidus emissas eludere simius hastas,
Si mihi cauda foret, cercopithecus eram.
> and oftentimes this word is taken as a Genus which includes the whole; when strictly taken, it signisies an Ape without a Tail, and in Latin is call'd Simia; that which hath a Tail is call'd Cerco∣pithecus, in English a Monkey. Thus Material. Epig lib. 14. Epigr. 202.Martial.
Yes, but why did Martial use simius and not simia there?
@Cerberus I thought an ape was usually a simia in Latin not a simius.
Just don't translate CCIII; it will just get you flagged. :)
> 1 The cercopithecus came from Aethiopia : Plin. N.H. viii.
Oh, I know why he used simius.
He's talking about himself.
So it would have sounded funny positing that he was a simia.
I dunno, he who apes the ape no tail needs, nor -ius noun.
Best not translate CCV either. Gosh, this guy!
From a simius callidus, a homo sapiens is a quick jump away.
Although a simia calida would be a hot or cooked one, not a wise or clever one.
Spanish cálido is a reborrowing; the normal descendent is just caldo.
> In the sense "hot water", the syncopated form calda is particularly common. Emperor Augustus "corrects [his grandson Gaius Caesar] for saying calidam rather than caldam, not because it's not Latin, but because it's annoying and, as he himself puts it in Greek, περίεργον (períergon, “affected, overdone”)".
"Because it's annoying" is funny!
I wonder whether the hastas he was eluding were arrows or spears.
I assume he's talking about eluding metaphorical darts hurled at him.
But I don't get the thing about the tail.
In that I don't get what I take to be the extended metaphor.
The guenons (UK: , US: ) are Old World monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus (). Not all members of this genus have the word "guenon" in their common names; also, because of changes in scientific classification, some monkeys in other genera may have common names that include the word "guenon". Nonetheless, the use of the term guenon for monkeys of this genus is widely accepted.
All members of the genus are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, and most are forest monkeys. Many of the species are quite local in their ranges, and some have even more local subspecies. Many are threatened or endangered because...
> In the English language, the word "guenon" is apparently of French origin.[2] In French, guenon was the common name for all species and individuals, both males and females, from the genus Cercopithecus. In all other monkey and apes species, the French word guenon only designates the females.