Disputatio:Ioannes McCain

Republicanus aut Popularis

"Republican" as the name of the politcal party in the united states is different and means something different, I think, than the adjective and general "republican' as it is usually used. So I am not sure Cassell's suggested translation is appropriate for the name of the party. Can you provide any further information?--Rafaelgarcia 04:40, 31 Ianuarii 2008 (UTC)

I'm just reporting what Cassell's says! White's dictionary (1928) doesn't have the adjective, nor does Ainsworth's (18th century); Ainsworth's does, though, have the noun A republican, defined as 'Popularis imperii amator'. In the United States, the Republican Party was founded to support the republic (as against those who didn't); hence the name. Since a republic is 'the people's thing' (res publica), it would seem natural that an adjective referring to the people (popularis) would relate to it. The classical term popularis doesn't ordinarily seem to imply the usual modern English sense: 'commonly liked or approved'. ¶ Unfortunately here, Cassell's also defines the English word democratic as 'popularis'. Oh well. ¶ How far back does the supposed adjective republicanus go? Its absence from Ainsworth's suggests that it wasn't appropriate as a gloss for 'republican' so recently as two hundred years ago. IacobusAmor 13:03, 31 Ianuarii 2008 (UTC)

I think cassell's is correct, because in the context of todays governments democrat and republican mean the same thing: champions of government by the people, as opposed to oligarch or kings, hence "populares". Yet there is a difference between "Republican" and republican. One is the name of a party, the other a person who advocates a certain form of government. No one really expects to have the party name to mean anything in particular. What they stand for changes from election to election. --Rafaelgarcia 14:48, 31 Ianuarii 2008 (UTC)

Is that ever true! ¶ Since we can't render Democratic Party and Republican Party by the same term (Factio Popularis), we'll probably have to allow Factio Democratica & Factio Republicana and tolerate their substantives (Is est Democraticus honestus; ea est Republicana prava). Does anybody dispute that? If so, what are the reasons? and what Latin terms would be better? IacobusAmor 16:10, 31 Ianuarii 2008 (UTC)