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Carpal Tunnel
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What I mean is that the limen isn't the same thing that a threshold is since it includes more than what a threshold includes. It's like saying that 'feet' is a good translation of a word meaning 'hands and feet.' You can pass under the top part of a limen or over the bottom part but you can't pass under a threshold.

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Pooh-Bah
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Faldage has a liminal point.

I vote for that word.

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Carpal Tunnel
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You can pass under the top part of a limen or over the bottom part but you can't pass under a threshold.

You can specify limen superum 'lintel' or limen inferum 'sill, threshold' (literally, upper and lower threshold), but I see what you mean. Latin limen is not a good translation of the English scientific metaphorical notion of 'threshold', just the door jamb bits.

It's like saying that 'feet' is a good translation of a word meaning 'hands and feet.'

So, you're saying that 'finger' is not a good translation of Latin digitus, because that word can also mean 'toes', and even 'inch'? I often thought that translation is impassable.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Originally Posted By: zmjezhd

So, you're saying that 'finger' is not a good translation of Latin digitus, because that word can also mean 'toes', and even 'inch'? I often thought that translation is impassable.


Certainly context is our friend and if it is clear that the context supports a translation of finger for digitus the finger it is. On the other hand, using the fact that limen can mean the upper part of a door frame is no argument for using threshold as a word for a lower limit that must be gotten under to proceed.

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On the other hand, using the fact that limen can mean the upper part of a door frame is no argument for using threshold as a word for a lower limit that must be gotten under to proceed.

I made no such argument, and I'm sorry I expressed myself so poorly that you believed that I did. That being said, I have no problem with using threshold to mean 'lower limit'. I see a threshold as being a threshold no matter whether you enter the house over it or exit the house over it. I see it as a sort of terminus both ante quem and post quem.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I guess it was just your pointing out that the Latin word could refer to both the upper and lower parts of the door frame that got me off on my gripe.

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traverse?

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Contravened? Undershot?

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Originally Posted By: Jackie
Undershot?

I *like* that!

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undershot gives me the impression of never quite reaching the lower threshold, as opposed to falling below that threshold.


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