Re: Latin

[brian whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>]

> Joel Rauber writes:
> > de gustibus non est disputandem

Ken Fox responds:
> Mr Stevens is yelling at me across the decades:
> de gustibus non disputandem est! The verb goes at the end......;-)


Though there is such a grammatical rule, no doubt, the proverbs
and maxims that have been carried down from the classical Latin
authors show all three forms: interior verb, terminal verb,
 and omitted verb.

This 'de gustibus' saying is not of this antiquity however.
It is more than dog-latin certainly: all the words do show in the
 classics, just not ensemble!

One or two folks have suggested a provenance in Francis Bacon.
It's true this saying is quite juridical in flavor and has served
its turn at the US Supreme Court, but I do not find it in Francis's
writings, lawyer though he was.

It's difficult to find examples as old as 200 years.
If you agree that the use of this phrase is intended as a marker
of a certain education (Perhaps to show 'side' as the English would
 say, or perhaps to show 'English' as an American might say) then
it would do no harm to reprove the translators who render gustibus
in the singular. As Ludwik reminds us, the Russian form is also
rendered in the plural. It's interesting that he mentioned colors
 as well as tastes. Colors are also included in some versions of
the Latin form too.


brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>  Altus OK
                Eureka!