|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"word was spoken the fiat went forth..." I can't remember the Latin term for this verb form , but it means "let it be done". An order, a command. "Fiat justitia, ruat caelum." For a URL about Latin phrases, browse http://www.sacklunch.net/Latin/F/fiatjustitiaruatcaelum.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,554 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,554 Likes: 1 |
In English, I think, it's akin to the imperative, but in Latin it's "hortatory." Or something. Maybe there's a little more passive voice in hortatory than imperative - "Let it be done!" rather than "Do it!".
"Fiat lux!" is the equivalent of "Let there be light!"
Do you suppose Fiat Motors, makers of automobiles in Italy, meant something by the name? As opposed to the Chevvy Nova in Latin America, which was teased for its alternative translation into "it doesn't go!"
Afterthought: Is "fiasco" simply Italian for "I'm doing it"?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The automobile company name Fiat is an acronym, the "t" standing for Turin, where it is located. I can't remember the first three letters. I'll try to look them up.
Second Edit:Fiat is an acronym. It stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino
Edit: here are uncomplimentary acronyms:
FIAT
F**ked In the Ass Twice
Failed In A Tunnel
Failure in Italian Automotive Technology
Failure In Automotive Technology
Feeble Italian Attempt at Transportation
Fits In A Thimble
Fix It Again Today
Fix It Again Tony
Fix It All the Time
Flats In All Tires
Found In A Trench
Futile Italian Attempt at Transportation
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
It's the hortatory subjuncitve. It's a polite sort of imperative. Fiasco is Italian for flask. AHD4 sugggests in might be a loan translation from a French phrase. http://www.bartleby.com/61/87/F0098700.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
From the Internet:
Fiasco:
The Italian fiasco means`a glass bottle' and is related to the English flask. In English fiasco was first borrowed from Italian in this literal sense, referring especially to a long-necked, straw-covered bottle for wine. The French adopted the Italian fiasco into the phrase faire fiasco, meaning `to fail'. Fiasco was borrowed into English in the late nineteenth century in its newly acquired sense of an utter and often ridiculous failure. Just what prompted the development of the sense `failure' from `bottle' has remained obscure.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
>Just what prompted the development of the sense `failure' from `bottle' has remained obscure.
Indeed it has - this was the question that was the basis of my very first post here, several avatars ago.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
the basis of my very first post here, several avatars ago
Keep avatating yourself, mebbe you'll eventually get an answer.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
the basis of my very first post here, several avatars ago.
Keep avatating yourself, mebbe you'll eventually get an answer.
Well, it was more than three years ago now, so I may have to repeat my demands for a refund.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Max: I envy you your memory.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,357
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
1 members (wofahulicodoc),
595
guests, and
2
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
