Disputatio:Arx Vainensis

To me what makes the most sense is castra -orum... perhaps not a perfect match, but it did show up in a lot of placenames (cf. all the placenames in England that end in -chester). On the other hand Egger's Lexicon Nominum Locorum (which is about the most "official" handbook which exists for modern place names, but with which I often disagree) calls this town Arx Vainensis... this fact should probably be mentioned in the article, whether or not it is used for the title. I'm glad you decided not to go with furtum though, which (Francofurtum notwithstanding) means something else entirely ;) --Iustinus 02:36 feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

Arx

Is that what Egger usually calls other American fort towns, like Fort Worth and Fort Knox? I thought castra would be best too, but I decided on castellum since that's what my Latin dictionary used. When I write in (Modern) Greek, I refer to it as "Kastro Gouain."

My father's surname dictionary said that the names Wayne, Cartwright, Wainwright etc. were in earlier times all linked to the astrological sign Auriga, the charioteer, so I was briefly tempted to call it "Castellum Aurigae," but immediately thought the better of it. I think I'll translate Wayne's name as Vaiens from now on though, instead of "Auriga."

I've had trouble with some of the other names. I went ahead and rendered "Smith" and "Schmidt" as "Faber" after trying my own pseudo-Latin "Smithicus" and finding that I didn't like it too well. I translated Kennedy as "Gennadia" after Gennadius, but I'm thinking of searching for the JFK article to see what they used.--Brennus 03:50 feb 3, 2005 (UTC)

Sorry to keep referring you to "my comments," but as far as personal names are concerned, see here. Basically, the rule among most Modern Latinists these days is to leave family names unlatinized. Most (myself included) make an exception of historical figures who had Latin names. So, for example, the 18th century mathematician "Gabriel Kramer" called himself Gabriel Cramerus in his Latin writings, so that's what he shoudl be called. Likewise, Gerard de Cremere called himself "Gerardus Mercator" (because, in German Kremer means merchant). But some guy you just met named "Kremer" would, by the usual rules, be called Kremer (indeclensional) unless there was a good reason not to. Hence, Smith, Schmidt and Kenedy shoudl probably be left in their vernacular forms. (Wayne of course was another form of the word "wagon" in older forms of English, whch explains that linkage)

As for how Egger translates "fort", here's a list: Fort Archambault (Chad) = Castrum Arcambaldianum (listed as feminine fsr; that must be an error), Fort-Dauphin (Madagascar) Arx Delphini, Fort Lamy (Cbad, obsolete) = Castrum Lamyense, Arx Lamy, Fort-Rousset (Congo) = Arx Russetana, Fort Wayne (USA) = Arx Vainensis, and while we're at it Fortezza Franzensfeste = Munimenta Francisci.

One more thing, Vainensis is Vain- (a vague Latinization of Wayne) + -ensis (and adjectival suffix), not Vainens+is. So our friend Anthony should be called Antonius Wayne or, if you must, Antonius Vainus. --Iustinus 05:21 feb 3, 2005 (UTC)