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Joined: Feb 2001
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Feb 2001
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Does anyone have a definition for this word? It was in a Thesaurus under 'Slow'.
Nobody stranger
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Abagogo: My dictionary give "reptant" meaning crawling, says no definition for "reptatorial". Sounds as though they could be related.wwh
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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reptant
a. creeping. reptation, n. reptatorial, reptatory, a. [dictionary of difficult words]
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Joined: Dec 2000
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addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
Is is just coincidence that it looks like "reptile" - a class of beasts known for creeping?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome to you, Abagogo.
My husband's 1952 American College Encyclopedic Dictionary gives this after the definition of Reptilia: NL, neut. pl. of LL reptilis creeping,
der. reptare creep.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347 |
Is it just coincidence that it looks like "reptile" - a class of beasts known for creeping?
The critters certainly have that rep'tation, don't they?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
Taking the risk of a reputation of repetitiousness, let me add my £ 0.02 to the theme of "reptatorial", which I never heard before, but like the sound of  . It could have been derived from latin repere (to creep) -> reptare along the same lines as dictatorial originated from dicere -> dictare. Dictare is a repetitious (and thus intensifying) form of dicere (to say). A reptator is thus a being with a characteristic creeping habit. This, of course, indirectly endowes it (him?) with other qualities  , just like a dictator, besides dictating, inspires respect by the other features associated with this primary activity. The accessory features of a reptator could thus be summarized by the term reptatorial which immediately strikes us as more wide-ranging than the simple reptant. On further reflection, it could be speculated that there are no dictators without their reptators .
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Joined: Dec 2000
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
-tor is the Latin agent suffix. Verb rept-a-re 'to creep (along)' > rept-a-tor 'one which creeps'.
There is another Latin root serp- 'to creep', Greek herp-, which we encounter in the present participle serp-ens, serp-ent- 'creeping', and herpetology, the study of reptiles.
I don't know whether there's any etymological connexion between rep- and serp- and creep. (I must look it up for my own edification.) There's no obvious sound-law connecting them.
I'd never heard of reptatorial. The construction of an adjective on an agent like that also occurs in pictor-ial 'of or pertaining to a painter' and my favourite grallatorial 'of or pertaining to a stiltwalker (sc. a wading bird)'.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
It could have been derived from latin repere (to creep) -> reptare along the same lines as dictatorial originated from dicere -> dictare. Whoa--sounds like excellent logic to me. Thank you. Hi, Nicholas! 
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