Latin nominatives and animal names (cf. Bossie)

[Wilson Gray]

Larry, are you claiming that "Felix" is a name that is or was generally used
to call or otherwise address random cats as Boss(ie) is used to call or
address random cows? Is it once again the case that I need to get out more?
Sigh! Well, what can you do? ;-)

-Wilson

On 4/28/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Latin nominatives and animal names (cf. Bossie)
>
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>
> At 1:22 PM -0200 4/28/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
> >We do name our lions Leo, not Leon.  (At the moment, that's
> >the only other stereo- or prototypical animal name I can
> >think of that resembles the Latin common noun designating
> >the species.)
> >
> >--Charlie
> Well, there's Felix the Cat, which I assume is at least influenced by
> fe:lis (since cats aren't notorious for being happy), although I
> suppose that was more of a genus than a species name before it became
> adapted into "felis catus"/"felis domesticus" for kitty-cats.
>
> L
>
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