Disputatio:Mechanica Newtoniana

How to say "Classical Mechanics"

What do you mean by senecta? I'm guessing "classical", in which case you should just use classica actually (if you don't like that, try translaticia "traditional"). Senecta means "old age" (a noun, not an adjective), and is not even a particularly common word.--Iustinus 02:59 aug 15, 2004 (UTC)

Rafaelgarcia moved the page again, from Mechanica classica to Mechanica Newtoni, on the grounds that classica means "of or pertaining to the fleet." I would like to make the following comments:

• Yes, "pertaining to the fleet" is the basic meaning of classicus, but already in acient times it had other meanings, including "of the highest rank, classical, superior, standard" (I don't think Aulus Gellius meant "pertaining to the fleet" when he said dumtaxat antiquiore vel oratorum aliquis vel poetarum, id est classicus adsiduusque aliquis scriptor, non proletarius.)
• If we are going to insist on using classicus only in its... um... classical senses, then we may have to dispose of the phrase Locus Classicus and, even worse, Latinitas Classica.
• Did the ancients ever use Mechanica in this sense? I mean I know it can be used as an abstract noun refering to the art or science of "mechanics", but I suspect that if we look into it, all the ancient uses will involve actual machines, rather than the way things move in general.
• If you're right that "Newtonian Mechanics" is a better turn of phrase than "Classical Mechanics" (and it may well be, just not for the reasons given, I would say), we really want to use an adjectival form here, just as is done in the vernacular languages. Probably best is Mechanica Newtoniana. But note that other wikipedias point out that "classical mechanics" is not limited to Newton's work, Leibnitz, Lagrange, and others all having contributed.

I won't take unilateral action here, so I would appreciate others' comments. --Iustinus 18:50, 27 Februarii 2007 (UTC)

Rafaelgarcia better write to Oxford University Press, to tell them that their series of classical texts--in Latin--the "Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis" should be properly concerning naval affairs! Seriously though, classicus, -a, -um, is a perfect word to use for what in English we call "classical." It has attestation: Like Iustinus pointed out above, it already did have other meanings in antiquity, and obviously, those other meanings have held up to the modern day.

If we do want to disown "classicus" of its "classical" meaning, along such similar reasoning, we had better strike "liber" from the record too, since the 1st definition of that word is "the inner bark of a tree," not a "book," which was a later coinage. --Sempronius Tyro 14:36, 26 Martii 2007 (UTC)

Mechanica communis, usitata, solita, consueta, vulgaris, pervagatus, pervulgatus, ante Einstein  ? But I take Iustinus's point, and observe that wherever "classical mechanics" goes, "classical music" is sure to follow. (Vide commenta in altera disputatione). IacobusAmor 14:43, 26 Martii 2007 (UTC) hi

These are all very convincing arguments. However, I'm still not sure this page should be named 'mechanica classica' instead of 'mechanica newtoniana' Classical mechanics in english typically means everything before quantum mechanics and so would include both electromagnetism and relativity. Thus to rename this page 'mechanica classica' would significantly widen its scope.Rafaelgarcia 11:20, 12 Aprilis 2007 (UTC)