Is it just me or did anyone else think upon first reading poetaster that it seems like a combination of poet and disaster? My sobriety is slightly compromised, but I thought that would be fitting, obviously. Just wondering...

Haha. Yes, very good. Welcome! My association with the word was poet and aster; a poet who can rhyme a bit about a flower or two, but no more than that.

did anyone else think upon first reading poetaster that it seems like a combination of poet and disaster?

No, but then I've studied Latin. The pejorative suffix -aster occurs in a number of Latin words: e.g., claudaster 'slightly lame', oleaster 'wild olive', philosophaster 'bad philosopher', pueraster 'stout lad'. OTOH, disaster is a combination of the pejorative prefix dis- and the noun aster 'star'. It means literally 'bad star' in Latin. A more common misanalysis of the word would be poe taster, whatever that might mean.

poe taster = sampling a bad poet
-joe (my original anal-ysis) friday

similar to my reading. :¬ )

Welcome Trysta....

claudaster
Has claudaster something to do with Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October 54. With his name? Claudius was afflicted with a limp, but this can be sheer coincidence of course.

It's my understanding that Claudius was a nickname that he got because he was lame. The Latin for 'lame' is claudus.

so the whole Claudian clan (Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero) got saddled with a nom de guerre, as it were?

(there's no mention of this in the wiki article..)

Shades of cannibalism for me, too.

Who's on the menu, the bad poet?

you're on a roll in this thread Bran!

Is she ever!!!

Well, there are a bunchof words in Latin beginning with claud- that have to do with limping, but there is also a patrician gens (roughly clan) Claudius (sometimes Clodius, link). I think the emperor Claudius just happened to be lame and have a name that meant that.

so the whole Claudian clan (Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero) got saddled with a nom de guerre, as it were?

Nope. Tiberius was a member of the Claudius gens. Tiberius was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero. Tiberius was Augustus' stepson, because his mother Livia Drusilla married Augustus. That's how the Claudians got merged with the Julian gens (of Caesar fame) to name the Julio-Claudian emperors.

That's the way I've understood it: it is a clan name, like
"Smith" or "Green" in our culture.

it is a clan name, like "Smith" or "Green" in our culture.

The Roman system of naming involved (usually) three names:

1. praenomen: given name (from a small set, e.g., Gaius, Marcus, Publius)

2. nomen (gentile): clan name (e.g., Claudius, Julius, etc.)

3. cognomen: family name (e.g., Caesar, Drusus, etc.). It originally started out as a nickname to differentiate people with the same praenomen and nomen.

[Edited to unconfusticate half-plural/half-singular forms in final sentence.]

Thanks for all that information zmjezhd. Yes, they must have annoyed him with jokes about it.

My mother's maiden name is Scottish and means either lame or illegitimate. I rather prefer the former but as it was umpteen generations ago either makes a good story.

you don't see many 'lame'
people these days!

....especially since the almost-elimination of Polio.

either makes a good story. Hmm...so, her great great great great grandfather was a gardener who limped due to an accident with the scythe, and he seduced the daughter of the manor house--which wasn't much of an effort, as she obviously enjoyed watching the manly rippling of his muscles as he worked. Howzzat?

I'm hooked

Your story has shades of 'Upstairs and Downstairs'... always a hit.

or the Game of Thrones, currently on HBO.

Your story is even better than the possible originals:
a) There was a clan war and the chieftan was killed. A chief could not be lame so the widow broke her infant son's leg and allowed it to set badly. This removed him as a future threat to the enemy so they allowed him to live. He became a priest and (the norm for Celtic priests) married. His descendants became an offshoot of the original clan.
b)The widow was captured while pregnant and her captors lamed the infant.
c)He was born deformed.
d)Any or none of the above minus the married part.

Hmmm, on reflection your story is much better!

It seems you really gave this some thought. All seem probable.

tried to look up the family history the first time I went to Scotland.

Have you tried one of those things like "Ancestry.com"?
I got a family coat of arms when in Ireland, but no
family history.

I got the general background I was looking for. My uncle on the other hand has made it his main retirement hobby to trace every twig on the family tree.

[LukeJavan8 or the Game of Thrones, currently on HBO.]

I read all the books and am waiting for the next one: "Dance with Dragons". Super pulp but so far irresistable pulp. The HBO will get here after BBC wil be done with it - one or two years - . The books are more fun anyway. (saw the whole lot of trials on YouTube)

I am really interested in doing it, but don't have the money
it costs, and wish I had an uncle who would do it and I could
give it to me. (yuk), but that won't happen.

So "Dance with Dragons" is the next set of books to follow
the current one named "Ice and Fire" or something like that?
If so, I want to read it. Thanks.

Better start at the beginning. (A Game of Thrones) maybe still the best of all 4, available in pocket edition. The selling policy is to first publish the expensive and heavy hardcover and only a year or so later the pocket version. First chapter of the first book is still my favorite.

Same here with hardcover editions first. Will be checking
these out. Very good, swashbuckling. Thanks.