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#28553 05/07/01 12:57 PM
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I'm reading the new Pulitzer Prize winner, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. In Part IV, Chapter 7 he uses the word aetataureate. The quote is "...the usual hallmark of the aetataureate delusion." I cannot find aetataureate in any dictionary. HELP!! What does it mean? Thanks!!


#28554 05/07/01 01:06 PM
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Sounds like a Latinate way of saying "golden years" or "golden age".


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By George! I think Dr. W has got it!


From "aetatis."

#28556 05/07/01 01:21 PM
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Well, I googled it, and this was the first hit. Looks like you're not alone:

http://www.bookcritics.org/criticscircle/msg/10000035


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Yeah! Looks good to me, Dr. Bill and Ann


#28558 05/07/01 06:25 PM
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Welcome, drbubbles.
I couldn't make sense of the Latin-English dictionaries, but the Latin-French one was great! I'll stick in my translations of the French.

aetas, atis, f. (abrév. de aevitas; gén. plur. aetatum, qqf. aetatium) : - 1 - âge, partie de la vie.essentially, old age. - 2 - durée de la vie, vie d'un homme..duration of life, the life of a man
(person) - 3 - génération. - 4 - temps, siècle, époque, période. .times, century, epoch, period.
- flos aetatis : la fleur de l'âge, la première jeunesse.
- ab ineunte aetate : dès le jeune âge.
- aetas provecta : âge avancé.
- aetatem agere (gerere) : vivre, passer sa vie.
- aetate nostrâ : de nos jours.
- aetate, adv. : depuis longtemps; avec le temps.
- in aetate, adv. : de temps en temps, quelquefois.
- aetatem, adv. : toujours, toute la vie; longtemps.
- mala aetas, Plaut. Men. 5.2.6 : la vieillesse.
- aetas, aevitas = senectus : la vieillesse.

aetatium = aetatum, gén. plur. de aetas.


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Golden years looks good to me. The aetataureate delusion would refer to the notion that old age is fun.

Can we have the front end of the quote, drbubbles? See does it make sense?


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Faldage tentatives: The aetataureate delusion would refer to the notion that old age is fun.

You never know till you try.

If DrBubbles doesn't reply before I have a chance to, I'm planning on checking out the book Wednesday and having me a read. So I can fill you in on the context.


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aetat - aged
aureate - decorated with gold (both in W3)


#28562 05/07/01 10:42 PM
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First, let me apologize if I'm not answering you all correctly. Hopefully, all of you who have so kindly replied will read this. "Golden age" makes sense as a definition as Part IV of this book is called "The Golden Age." The complete quote is: "During 1941, in the wake of that outburst of gaudy hopefulness, the World's Fair, a sizable portion of the citizens of New York City had the odd experience of feeling for the time in which they were living, at the very moment they were living in it, that strange blend of optimism and nostalgia which is the usual hallmark of the aetataureate delusion."


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