Post 2/4
2. Then Aatish declared:
(BTW, is Narindar not Punjabi/some northern Indian language's *prakritised* version of Skt Narendra? As in nara+indra meaning something like nara shreShTha? I don't know about how "downmarket" Narindar sounds to whomever, but Narendra has always been considered a perfectly respectable name by *Hindus*.)
I am not familiar with the Greek word, but as for Nero:
I really shouldn't have to do this, but then, there have been a lot of things no one should have to do:
Latin dictionary: archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl?stem=ner&ending=o
*** Explicating by expanding (for anyone who may need it, though I'm sure people already guessed it):
Meaning: "a cognomen in gens Claudia" =~ a name used by the Claudius family/community. Of zoiets ongeveer.
(Nero's a name kept by members of the Claudius family of Roman aristocrats.
I suppose this is as opposed to Flavian or Antonine etc aristocratic/imperial lines.)
No one needs to be a know-it-all to know the bare minimum. But you need to know at least that much - i.e. the bare minimum - when you write an article for public consumption, especially an article where the meanings and origins of the words are *key* to the points the writer is trying to make!
And if people don't know, then why do they make it up instead of looking it up? Why would anyone *do* that?
And as for the proposed meaning of the name "Nero", the following site says:
www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Nero
And same site, under Nerina, just in case:
But I wouldn't know to confirm. Noir in French is black, and another word that signifies the same is negre I think (used in the surname of Agnes Negre[s], IIRC this appeared in some end credits), which is hence related to negr* or something in Latin. So it's possible that Nero *could* theoretically mean black, but it's too short a word for me to dare guessing at.
(But possible Sabine roots to the word is interesting.)
I think the most common Italian word for 'man' that I know of is "homo" (as in, "il homo" or something, well, "l'homme" en francais at least) and the Latin word must be related: I think it would be just homo. Oh and turns out *it is*, what a great "miracle". Latin dict again:
(Hence obviously nemo = no man, etc.)
But I'd like to know in what dictionary Aatish found Nero to mean man, then? I actually don't think he looked it up. 'Cause I just looked it up in yet another Latin dictionary, and that one mentions all the famous British Latin dictionary sources for ner* words, and none of them find ner*/nero to mean 'man'.
And honestly, his being/playing an expert at word derivations and relations and all, I don't know why Aatish Taseer didn't go for the obvious. See, now I would have done this in his place: Manusha (Skt). Mens (NL)/mensch(DE). And mens is probably related to man (EN). But the question then is, can we make it all related to the 'homo' above of Latin, pretty please? Perhaps if we related human to homo, because then the relationship between human and man is straightforward. Tadaa.
Obviously amateurish and hardly clever, but at least not dubious/suspect as the "Eire" and "Nero" that Aatish went in for. [Never mind that I don't know Skt and certainly didn't "study" it like Taseer. This doesn't take a brain or even half of one. And IE word games are easy to play even for me, BUT: if the example I made above were allowed, then there are other unspeakable if rather important arguments also that Hindus should be allowed to make concerning IE, no? Mais non.]
Anyway, did the editor at the magazine read Taseer's piece? Did he cross-check statements made therein? Else what *does* an editor get paid to do? It's obviously not spell-checking because the editor missed correcting "Paravati" to Parvati.
2. Then Aatish declared:
Quote:ââ¬ËNarindarââ¬â¢ might have sounded downmarket to the people I had grown up with, but it could no longer be that way for me. Not when I knew that beyond its simple meaning as ââ¬ËLord of Menââ¬â¢, naraââ¬âcognate with the Latin nero and the Greek anérââ¬âwas one of our oldest words for ââ¬Ëmanââ¬â¢.
(BTW, is Narindar not Punjabi/some northern Indian language's *prakritised* version of Skt Narendra? As in nara+indra meaning something like nara shreShTha? I don't know about how "downmarket" Narindar sounds to whomever, but Narendra has always been considered a perfectly respectable name by *Hindus*.)
I am not familiar with the Greek word, but as for Nero:
I really shouldn't have to do this, but then, there have been a lot of things no one should have to do:
Latin dictionary: archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl?stem=ner&ending=o
Quote:Nereus -eos and -ei m. [a sea god].
Nero -onis m. [a cognomen in the gens Claudia]; esp. C. Claudius Nero , [fifth Roman emperor (54-68)]. ****
nervosus -a -um [sinewy , nervous, strong, vigorous]; adv. nervose.
nervulus -i m. [nerve , strength].
nervus -i m. (usually plur.) , [sinew, tendon]; fig. [strength, vigor, energy; a string, esp. of an instrument; a strap, thong, fetter].
*** Explicating by expanding (for anyone who may need it, though I'm sure people already guessed it):
Quote:gens gentis f. [a clan , stock, people, tribe, nation]. Transf., [an offspring, descendant; a district, country]; esp. in partitive genit.: 'ubi gentium', [where in the world?]; plur., 'gentes', [foreigners].
Quote:cognomen -inis n. [a surname , family name].
Meaning: "a cognomen in gens Claudia" =~ a name used by the Claudius family/community. Of zoiets ongeveer.
(Nero's a name kept by members of the Claudius family of Roman aristocrats.
I suppose this is as opposed to Flavian or Antonine etc aristocratic/imperial lines.)
No one needs to be a know-it-all to know the bare minimum. But you need to know at least that much - i.e. the bare minimum - when you write an article for public consumption, especially an article where the meanings and origins of the words are *key* to the points the writer is trying to make!
And if people don't know, then why do they make it up instead of looking it up? Why would anyone *do* that?
And as for the proposed meaning of the name "Nero", the following site says:
www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Nero
Quote:1: Nero is largely used in the English, French, German, Slavic, and Spanish languages, and its origin is Latin. The name's meaning is black, dark. The name is of uncertain origin; it could also be from Sabine roots. The first name is taken from the Roman nickname, which is known from the Roman emperor Nero (37-68). The emperor's notoriety has reduced the popularity of the name. The name Nerina is the female equivalent of Nero. Neroh, Neron (French, Slavic, and Spanish), Nerone (Italian), Niro, and Nyro are variants of Nero.
And same site, under Nerina, just in case:
Quote:2: Nerina is of Latin origin. The meaning here is 'black, dark'. From the Roman nickname. Nerina is the feminine version of the English, French, German, Slavic, Spanish, and Italian Nero.
But I wouldn't know to confirm. Noir in French is black, and another word that signifies the same is negre I think (used in the surname of Agnes Negre[s], IIRC this appeared in some end credits), which is hence related to negr* or something in Latin. So it's possible that Nero *could* theoretically mean black, but it's too short a word for me to dare guessing at.
(But possible Sabine roots to the word is interesting.)
I think the most common Italian word for 'man' that I know of is "homo" (as in, "il homo" or something, well, "l'homme" en francais at least) and the Latin word must be related: I think it would be just homo. Oh and turns out *it is*, what a great "miracle". Latin dict again:
Quote:homo -inis c. [a human being , man, mortal]; in pl., [men, people, the world]; used like a pronoun, [he, him]; milit., in pl., [infantry].
(Hence obviously nemo = no man, etc.)
But I'd like to know in what dictionary Aatish found Nero to mean man, then? I actually don't think he looked it up. 'Cause I just looked it up in yet another Latin dictionary, and that one mentions all the famous British Latin dictionary sources for ner* words, and none of them find ner*/nero to mean 'man'.
And honestly, his being/playing an expert at word derivations and relations and all, I don't know why Aatish Taseer didn't go for the obvious. See, now I would have done this in his place: Manusha (Skt). Mens (NL)/mensch(DE). And mens is probably related to man (EN). But the question then is, can we make it all related to the 'homo' above of Latin, pretty please? Perhaps if we related human to homo, because then the relationship between human and man is straightforward. Tadaa.
Obviously amateurish and hardly clever, but at least not dubious/suspect as the "Eire" and "Nero" that Aatish went in for. [Never mind that I don't know Skt and certainly didn't "study" it like Taseer. This doesn't take a brain or even half of one. And IE word games are easy to play even for me, BUT: if the example I made above were allowed, then there are other unspeakable if rather important arguments also that Hindus should be allowed to make concerning IE, no? Mais non.]
Anyway, did the editor at the magazine read Taseer's piece? Did he cross-check statements made therein? Else what *does* an editor get paid to do? It's obviously not spell-checking because the editor missed correcting "Paravati" to Parvati.