{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "A funny thing from Clackson (2016): in Annals 1.65, Tacitus literally refuses to call a spade a spade. He\u2019s describing how the...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/164407606033/", "html": "<p><a href=\"https://ethnianmandarin.tumblr.com/post/164405422428/house-carpenter-a-funny-thing-from-clackson\" class=\"tumblr_blog\" target=\"_blank\">ethnianmandarin</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http://house-carpenter.tumblr.com/post/164402732675/a-funny-thing-from-clackson-2016-in-annals\" class=\"tumblr_blog\" target=\"_blank\">house-carpenter</a>:</p><blockquote>\n<p>A funny thing from Clackson (2016): in <i>Annals</i> 1.65, Tacitus literally refuses to call a spade a spade. He\u2019s describing how the Roman legions, during a battle against some Germanic tribes, are struggling to defend themselves; they have to build ramparts, but unfortunately for them, they\u2019ve lost most of their spades\u2014<i>amissa magna ex parte per quae egeritur humus aut exciditur caespes</i>\u2014except he doesn\u2019t just use the word <i>pala</i> \u2018spade\u2019 but instead quite unnecessarily refers to the spades periphrastically as <i>per quae egeritur humus aut exciditur caespes</i>, literally \u2018that by which the earth is tilled or the turf is cut\u2019. Clackson describes this as a \u2018notorious\u2019 usage so presumably it\u2019s well-known among classicists.<br/></p>\n<p style=\"\">Reference:<br/></p>\n<p>Clackson, J. (2016). Latin as a source for the Romance languages. In Ledgeway, A., &amp; Maiden, M. (Eds.), <i>The Oxford Guide to the Romance Languages</i> (pp. 3\u201313). Oxford University Press.<br/></p>\n</blockquote>\n<figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"351\" data-orig-width=\"571\"><img src=\"/media/tumblr_inline_ouzm5z0J7F1slmue8_540_f253593494f4.png\" data-orig-height=\"351\" data-orig-width=\"571\"/></figure><figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"348\" data-orig-width=\"555\"><img src=\"/media/tumblr_inline_ouzm64PnKl1slmue8_540_133869186ac1.png\" data-orig-height=\"348\" data-orig-width=\"555\"/></figure><figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"387\" data-orig-width=\"551\"><img src=\"/media/tumblr_inline_ouzm69uyBo1slmue8_540_4cb9703e8e19.png\" data-orig-height=\"387\" data-orig-width=\"551\"/></figure><figure class=\"tmblr-full\" data-orig-height=\"302\" data-orig-width=\"544\"><img src=\"/media/tumblr_inline_ouzm6fHJdS1slmue8_540_9748376ed4d7.png\" data-orig-height=\"302\" data-orig-width=\"544\"/></figure><blockquote><p>\u2013 Janet Fairweather</p><p>Seneca the Elder,</p><p>Cambridge University Press, 29 Nov 2007<br/></p></blockquote></blockquote>", "thumbnail_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/media/tumblr_inline_ouzm5z0J7F1slmue8_540_f253593494f4.png", "thumbnail_width": 540, "thumbnail_height": 332}