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Figurative uses of animal names in Latin and their ... - mura di tutti

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Much homely wisdom <strong>and</strong> many shrewd observations on<br />

life were stored up <strong>in</strong> <strong>animal</strong> proverbs.** Pr<strong>of</strong>ert cornua<br />

'vultur,^'^ 'the vulture grows horns,' represented the impos-<br />

sible; piscari <strong>in</strong> aerej^^ 'to fish <strong>in</strong> air,' signified the use-<br />

less; lupo agnum eripere^^ 'to rescue the lamb from the<br />

wolf,' typified the <strong>di</strong>fficult.<br />

Denies can<strong>in</strong>i were used <strong>in</strong> eat<strong>in</strong>g; the door <strong>of</strong> a mistress<br />

was subjected to a vigorous arietatio; senectus cerv<strong>in</strong>a denoted<br />

longevity.<br />

The farmer supported his v<strong>in</strong>es with cervi, the architect<br />

planned a testudo, the surgeon operated with a corvus, the<br />

veter<strong>in</strong>arian treated a ranula, the sol<strong>di</strong>er shot with a scorpio,<br />

the <strong>in</strong>fantryman rallied round an aquila, an ursa roamed<br />

the heavens, the gambler threw a canis, the lover called<br />

his sweetheart passer, the botanist searched for a dracon-<br />

tium, the jeweler prized a chelidonia gemma. A new spe-<br />

cies <strong>of</strong> fish was observed, it grunted, it became the porcus<br />

^mar<strong>in</strong>us; the unfamiliar elephant was called Luca bovis;^""<br />

camelopardalis^^ visualized prom<strong>in</strong>ent phases <strong>of</strong> two <strong>animal</strong>s<br />

better known.<br />

Christianity made its advent. Agnus signified the Master,<br />

Draco, the Devil, phoenix, the resurrection, Ix'^^t the<br />

new religion.<br />

The absence <strong>of</strong> the figurative <strong>and</strong> derived <strong>uses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>animal</strong><br />

<strong>names</strong> would seriously impair the resources <strong>of</strong> a language.<br />

Each <strong>animal</strong> has some <strong>di</strong>st<strong>in</strong>guish<strong>in</strong>g trait, so that<br />

the satirist is provided with a full quiver from which to<br />

shoot the shafts <strong>of</strong> ri<strong>di</strong>cule, the comic poet with a perennial<br />

fount from which to draw a supply <strong>of</strong> humor. A slight<br />

<strong>in</strong>dex <strong>of</strong> the loss <strong>in</strong>cident to the exclusion from Lat<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

derived <strong>uses</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>animal</strong> <strong>names</strong> may be obta<strong>in</strong>ed by try<strong>in</strong>g<br />

° Cf. Genthe, Epistula de proverbiis Romanorum ad <strong>animal</strong>ium naturam<br />

fert<strong>in</strong>entibus ; Sylvio Kohler, Das Tierleben im Sprichwort der Griechen<br />

und Romer; A. Otto, Die Sprichworter und sprichwortlkhen Redensarten<br />

.der Romer, Das Tierreich, p. 384 sqq.<br />

"Claud, xviii, 352.<br />

" Plaut. Asm. 99.<br />

" Plaut. Poen. 776.<br />

" Naevius ap. Varro, L<strong>in</strong>g, vii, 39.<br />

"... quod erat figura ut camelus, maculis ut panthera; Varro, L<strong>in</strong>g, v,<br />

100.

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