Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 21:21:28 -0800

From: Anton Sherwood dasher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETCOM.COM

Subject: "Little"; different; Latin



I can't think of anyone in my family called "Little N", but I have a cousin

(named after her mother) who was called "Baby Barbara" for a long time, at

least by those of us who hadn't seen her in a long time. In the twenty-odd

years since I saw her last, perhaps she has outgrown the handle.



Another cousin, son of Steve, was formerly "Stevie" and is now "Steven".



My ex-wife, in her early thirties, got tired of being Elsa and renamed

herself Rowan, taking the name of a child of our acquaintance (then about 5).

The child has occasionally referred to Rowan II as "Big Rowan".



Straying even further from the subject - I was once at a summer camp where

one of the two Kates was renamed Katie. And I heard of a Sarah in Italy

being nicknamed Saracca for distinction (acca = `h') - my informant said

`saracca' is a kind of beetle, though I can't find it in a small dictionary.



I was once in a club that had two members named Arthur.

The second was called Art Nouveau.



--which reminds me of some friends in their late sixties in north Texas

who both share the name _Jack_: this happily married couple is known as

"He-Jack" and "She-Jack."



In a hospital where Mom once worked, she heard pages for "Doctor Mister

Doctor" and "Doctor Mrs Doctor".



--

Webster's Dictionary of English Usage has a 1644 cite for different than.

Different to is earliests. Different from is in the middle. [...]



Has "different with" ever been much used?



--

Tim Frazer asks:

Latin plurals --at least literary Latin plurals, which is all

I know--end in vowels, esp. -ae, -i, -a, plus a few others. Italian seems

to make its plurals somewhat like Latin, at least (I think) with -i, right?



Masculine -i, feminine -e (from -ae) -- generally speaking.



So where does the -s plural in spanish and french come from?



From the accusative case. Neuter nominative and accusative plural

Status: R



are always -a; masculine and feminine plurals in the five declensions

(noun classes) are:

nominative -ae, -i, -es, -us, -es;

accusative -as, -os, -es, -us, -es.

(The genitive, dative, ablative and vocative need not concern you.)



If anyone knows another list where this would be a more appropriate

question, please forward. Thanks.



There is a Latin list, but I dropped off it so long ago I doubt I could

come up with its address.



Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685 *\\* DASher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]netcom.com