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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

32 figitur ferro et falx vocatur ab eo, quod incurva est, ut de muro extrahat lapides, aut certe caput istius vestitur ferro et appellatur aries.^*^ The corvus then had three distinct military uses, as is shown by the operations at Tyre and off Mylae and by the corvus demolitor, the transfer being due in each instance to the resemblance to the closed or open mandibles of the bird. The comparison with the beak of a bird was prompted by the shape of the end of the implement; the selection of the term corvus, however, was due to the fact that the crow is the most common bird with strong mandibles. In English, the figurative use of the word crow is common in the mechanical world in crow-bar. Colloquially we have such expressions as to crow over, as the crow flies, and the like. In alligator-wrench there is present the figure of fixed gaping jaws and in monkey-wrench, that of a movable jaw. CORAX, Gk. Kopa^ A Crow : Battering Device. transf., A Kind of Vitruvius speaks of the corax very disparagingly, stating that it is utterly ineffective: De corace nihil (Diades) puta- vit scribendum, quod animadverteret earn machinam nullam habere virtutem.^*® Vitruvius is quoting an earlier military writer, Diades, probably through Athenaeus, for the latter refers to the Kopa^ in the same vein : tov h^ Kopaxa, oii ^rifii elvai d^iov The corax suggests the corvus demolitor. It seems possible that the direct transliteration from the Greek in corax and the epithet in corvus demolitor serve the same purpose, that of differentiating the battering-crow from the types employed at Tyre and off Mylae. '"Veg. iv, 14. "'Vitr. X, 13, 8. "' Math. Vett. p. 5. '
33 GRUS, Gk. ye'pavoi, Crane; transf., i. A Battering Instrument; 2. A Lifting Device. Vitruvius in speaking of the corvus demolitor, a sort of battering instrument (see p. 31), says that it is sometimes dubbed grus: corvum demolitorem quem nonnulli gruem appellant.^** As several of these animal names reflect their Greek origin, this use of grus may have been influenced by the wooden pounding device, called yepavoi, which the Greek miller employed in crushing his grain. Hesychius comments on 'yepavo^ in this sense : opyavov ^vXivov, iv ^ KoirTovariv 01 a\
Page 3: Cornell University Library The orig
Page 7 and 8: FIGURATIVE USES OF ANIMAL NAMES IN
Page 9 and 10: PREFACE. The writer first became in
Page 11 and 12: Figurative Uses of Animal Names IN
Page 13 and 14: He found it both convenient and nec
Page 15 and 16: Much homely wisdom and many shrewd
Page 17 and 18: •dignified, may be inferred from
Page 19 and 20: Catus. Machinam quandam parvam, qua
Page 21 and 22: II . . . adventaret, prominentem ei
Page 23 and 24: . 13 peated attacks. The similarity
Page 25 and 26: 15 TOW reixow iwl ttjv iXeiroXiv /x
Page 27 and 28: : 17 Greeks of the term ram to an i
Page 29 and 30: 19 animals. A hint of this might po
Page 31 and 32: 21 In Athenaeus there appears the s
Page 33 and 34: 23 ^eX&vai eXa^paC ' light tortoise
Page 35 and 36: 25 equipped with wheels; finally pr
Page 37 and 38: 27 obrutis eius oculis, infestantia
Page 39 and 40: 29 ' walking ' is very apropos for
Page 41: 31 had only two, and they were mani
Page 45 and 46: 35 ultimately achieved a signal vic
Page 47 and 48: 37 tleinde latior procedit et adver
Page 49 and 50: 39 Vergil uses the adjective arbore
Page 51 and 52: 41 It is quite possible that it is
Page 53 and 54: 43 Analogous to this use of equuleu
Page 55 and 56: 45 Pliny informs us that Cato, in o
Page 57 and 58: : 47 While the second alternative d
Page 59 and 60: 49 appendage and the threating arm
Page 61 and 62: SI from the breaking on board of he
Page 63 and 64: S3 In spite of the statement of Var
Page 65 and 66: 55 tion is due to the burden rather

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?