Disputatio:Hemiptera

My text should read: "Hemiptera is an order of insects of the class Pterygota whose members (are) number(ed) 80,000 acrossed the entire earth. 2,500 of which live in Middle Europe. Their bodies are between 0.5 and 40 mm in length. Belostoma Grande can grow to a maximum size of 110 mm." Alexanderr 05:22, 7 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

1. membra: Ahah! YOu meant "member" in the belonging sense, not the anatomical one. In Classical Latin that would be somewhat iffy, but I don't know about scientific Latin. And yes, I know, membrum is used of Christians in the Vulgate... but I'm not sure insects are comparable :P Of course what else are you going to call them? Hmmm...
2. terram totum diffusa: Oooh, I like that. But if you are saying the membra are diffusa I don't think you can put terram in a bare accusative. Try per terram "throughout the earth." Also, totum should agree in gender with terram.
3. 2,500 quorum: will actually sound like better Latin if you switch the order: quorum 2,500.
4. in Medio Europae: OK, a tricky thing about Latin is that where we say "in the middle of Europe" or "on the top of the mountain" and what not, the Romans said "in middle Europe" and "on the highest mountain." This seems counterintuitive to us English speakers, but it's just something you ahve to get used to: in media Europa. But wait! One more thing! Habito actually usually takes an accusative, so it shoul dactually be Mediam Europam habitant.
5. Corpora eorum: I'm not sure this is right. Remember the thing I told you about in corde eorum? Well, in any case Corpus eorum sounds misleading, so I gess we should leave it as is.
6. ad: change to et.
7. longitudine: This is fine. You can leave it. Just wanted to remind you that you could also have said "longa 40 millimetra" if you wanted to. I guess it sounds better as longitudine anyway, at least in this case.
8. Belostoma Grande: Uh oh, you just got an F! Remember what Sinister Petrus said?
9. maxime ... crescere: Hmm, I think you need a more explicit construction here, like ad longitudinem 110 mm crescere.

--Iustinus 05:41, 7 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. I was searching for the right word for the "per terram totam" bit, but I couldn't find anything at the moment to mean "acrossed". As for my use of "membrum" to mean "member" I didn't exactly get that one from the vulgate. Just from the english... Thanks again, Alexanderr 05:51, 7 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

As for the "mediam terram" bit would I still use the preposition "in" with it? Alexanderr 05:57, 7 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

No, because habito takes a direct, bare accusative. Think of it like the English word "inhabit." You inhabit a place, you don't inhabit in a place. Get it? --Iustinus 06:02, 7 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

For anyone who is reading 9 years later, habito often does take loc. or in + abl., though it would be interesting to know the actual percentage of use (French has both as well: j'habite Paris and j'habite à Paris). Lesgles (disputatio) 05:16, 16 Septembris 2015 (UTC)

Cassell's clarifies: "inhabit, (locum) incolere (usually of a community); (in loco) habitare (usually of an individual). However, those terms may apply most aptly to people, and the tendencies of insects may differ and may therefore want another way of saying it ("eorum habitatio est . . . ?"). IacobusAmor (disputatio) 12:35, 16 Septembris 2015 (UTC)

It deserves investigation, though from L&S I see, under habito, "in arboribus (aves), Plin. 18, 35, 87, § 363"; and under incolo, "piscibus atque avibus ferisque, quae incolunt terras, Liv. 25, 12, 6", so we may not need to worry about it. Lesgles (disputatio) 20:18, 16 Septembris 2015 (UTC)