New words in old languages; how some construct modern words for Latin

[Jeffrey Kopp]

I subscribe to Cecil Adams' "The Straight Dope" ("Fighting Ignorance Since 1973--It's Taking Longer Than We Thought"), the email version of his column in the Chicago Reader.  I love this guy; he is ornately erudite and wittily sarcastic at the same time. (His science answers are the best and the funniest; he is a forensic chemist by profession.)

Here's an excerpt from a staff-prepared answer in Feb. 18's column (apparently emailed in advance of printing) about how modern words are constructed for Latin (to the submitted question, "Many English words have Latin roots, but what are the roots of Latin?"):

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlatinroot.html , halfway down:

Are there new Latin words for things that the ancient Romans didn't have? Well, Radio Finland (or in Latin, Radiophonia Finnica Generalis) broadcasts Nuntii Latini ("Latin announcements") in Latin via short-wave radio and by the Tela Totius Terrae (World Wide Web) [link here to http://www.yle.fi/fbc/latini/trans.html ]. Exactly why they thought it was a good idea to broadcast the news in Latin is another story, probably having something to do with very long winters and a steady supply of Finlandia vodka. Anyway, I expect they would be lost in trying to discuss current events without words for modern things. This is where your "Latinese guy sitting around making up crazy words" comes in.

His name is Carolus Egger, author of such timeless classics as Omnia dici possunt Latine ("Everything can be said in Latin") and Lexicon nominum virorum et mulierum ("dictionary of the names of men and women"). A few years back he oversaw the compilation of a new dictionary published by the Vatican that Nuntii Latini uses as one of its references. Lexicon recentis Latinitatis ("a dictionary of recent Latin") contains Latin words for all sorts of things that would leave the ancients scratching their heads. Where possible the entries are words that were already part of the language, from Latin writings of the Middle Ages or later. Some concepts didn't already have Latin names, so Egger and crew had to make them up, mostly forming new words from Greek roots or by forming phrases from familiar Latin words. It's not an English-Latin dictionary, but Italian-Latin, so it helps to know a little Italian. (Or a big Italian, as long as he can translate). One of the libraries I patronize had a copy gathering dust for five years before anyone was crazy--er, I mean inspired enough to check it out. Let's see what we can learn from it.

America's pastime is ludus pilae et basium ("game of ball and bases"). Boeing and Cessna make aëronaves. Chuck Yeager famously flew an aëronavis hyperechetica. (My guess is he was trying to get away from a bunch of Latin speaking geeks at the time). Stephen King writes fabulae horrificae ("horrific stories"), some of which get made into horrible pelliculae cenematographicae (films) that may be shown on telehorasis (television). Before settling down to watch, you may want to get yourself some maizae grana tosta (popcorn or "toasted grains of corn")....
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Etc.  Technically, you're supposed to forward the whole column plus the ads, but I'll stretch "fair use" here to three paras, and trust you'll visit his Web site.  The obligatory plugs are below:

Regards,

Jeff
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P.S.  My talking American Heritage Dictionary pronounces "erudite" as "airy-oo-dite."  Where did that "y" come from?? J.