Re: de minimus -Reply

[Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 12:44 03.12.1996 -0600, you wrote:
>How's this for nit picking:   "De minimus " is not correct usage.  It
>is neither english nor latin.  It is a latinism apparently concocted
>by people who think all latin words end in ..."us".  (The same kind
>of people who make the plural of Elvis, "Elvi".  (I think the plural
>of Elvis is Elves, a la crisis, crises  (ha ha))).  Many Latin words
>do indeed end in .."us", if they are in the nominative (subject) case
>(masculine gender, singular number, first declension).  In an
>inflected language like latin, words change endings depending on
>their use in a sentence.  "De minimis non curat lex"  means "about
>small things the law (lex -- the subject of the sentence) does not
>care".  In the phrase "de minimis", "minimis" is the object of the
>preposition "de", it takes the ending "..is".  (I should know, I took
>3 years of High School Latin long, long ago).
>I make this silly point because in many years of trying to "sell" the
>idea of de minimis radiation levels, I discovered that some people
>more favored with a classical eduation than most US engineers and HPs
>immediately discount any idea that is not spelled with classical
>precision and consider those who make such a boo-boo semi-illiterate.
> 
>J P Davis  joyced@dnfsb.gov
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------

Joyce,

I had six years of Latin in school a very, very long time ago. I still am
able to read inscriptions on medieval gravestones, I can make myselve
understood in Italian and Spanish - so the six years have not been wasted.
My interpretation might not be correct, but "de minimis" seems to me an
accusative or even a  "hortative", asking to get to the minimal activity
concentrations and doses. "Minimis" is obviously not a nominative, which is
clearly depicted by the word "de".

I wonder whether "Elvis" can be found in any latin dictionary. If you find
it, is "Elves" really the plural? I would rather say "one Elvis, several
Elvis", but this is only my personal opinion which is based on my personal
feeling of languages and needs no disclaimer.....

To come back to radiation protection: It is no good idea to "sell" ideas by
using Latin and it is no good idea to refuse an idea because it has not been
presented in perfect Latin - or what the person regarded as perfect Latin....

Franz
Schoenhofer
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