Quantum redactiones paginae "Disputatio:Granitum (lapis)" differant

''Granatum'' is the correct name here (it is from the adjective) but all mineral names in '-ite' are ''-ita'' (masculine) in Latin. This suffix comes from Greek ''-ites''. [http://cil.bbaw.de/cil_en/dateien/glossar_1_16-6.html The CIL index] is no help; its classicising requires 'lapis ...' which is too cumbersome for scientific use. Strangely, they have 'lapis basanites' and I'm not sure why you could put together two nouns in the nominative there. [[Usor:Pantocrator|Pantocrator]] 11:47, 30 Martii 2010 (UTC)

:<s>Many of these names come from Greek, and the -ites termination (the same that is optionally Latinised as -ita) is, I think, originally adjectival in Greek. At any rate it's used for both adjectives and nouns. So</s> ''Lapis basanites'' is a calque or loan-translation of Greek {{Polytonic|βασανίτης λίθος}}, <s>and can be taken as noun + agreeing adjective.</s> [Changed my mind here, but the following sentence explains the construction in Greek and Latin anyway:] Noun + noun "in apposition", both in the same case, is quite OK if one of them serves to identify the class into which the other falls: "Urbs Roma" is a well-known example. <font face="Gill Sans">[[Usor:Andrew Dalby|Andrew]]<font color="green">[[Disputatio Usoris:Andrew Dalby| Dalby]]</font></font> 12:17, 30 Martii 2010 (UTC)

:On your other question, I believe '''lapis''' is the better word. I think '''saxum''' is more likely to mean an individual bit of rock. <font face="Gill Sans">[[Usor:Andrew Dalby|Andrew]]<font color="green">[[Disputatio Usoris:Andrew Dalby| Dalby]]</font></font> 12:13, 30 Martii 2010 (UTC)