# Nomen diptot-



## Arabus

Hello,

What is the singular of "nomina diptota"? 

Thank you,


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## Fred_C

Hi,
the singular is "nomen diptotum", I think.
Is is some sort of a noun with two cases?


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## Arabus

After reviewing the declensions, I guess it must be "nomen diptotum"? Is this correct?


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## Arabus

Thank you ... yes it is.


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## Anne345

Singular of _diptota_ is _diptotos_ _-on_, a greek form of adjective or noun  :

_*diptotos forma* est, quotiens nomen per omnes sex casus duarum tantum uocum habet mutationem, ut Iuppiter Iouis, Diespiter Diogenis, quamuis quidam dicant *diptoton* non inueniri._ (Consentius, 5.351, 21)​


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## Arabus

Thanks, but now I have conflicting opinions and I don't know enough to determine which is right ... The Latin text looks great, but helas ... je ne le comprend pas ...


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## Arabus

Anne, what you say looks true, but check this page:

http://grzegorj.w.interia.pl/lingwen/iesem2.html

This Polish man has got a table and put "nomen diptotum" in it. I don't know if he improvised it or if it is common this way...


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## Anne345

I am more confident in my latin dictionnary ! 
http://www.dicfro.org/?search=diptotos&lang=latin


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## Arabus

Thanks ... so *nomen diptotos* it is ...


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## Anne345

No, _nomen diptoton_ 
_-on_ is the neutral ending


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## Arabus

Thanks ...


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## Fred_C

Hi,
There is no example where a greek ending in "-on" cannot be latinised in "-um". So both are correct in my opinion.


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## Arabus

So apparently the Polish guy wasn't mistaken after all ...

I need to pick one, which is better to use as a technical term?


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## Fred_C

The most appropriate is the one in "-um", since the "-on" ending belongs to the Ancient History (the roman era). Latin used as a lingua franca by scientists up to the 17th century used the -um form, and the term you are looking for, that describes arabic grammar, was certainly not coined in the Ancient History.
On this question, it is a bad idea to trust a Latin teacher or a Latin dictionary, because those are often very purist, and purism is preposterous in your case...


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## Arabus

Thank you ... and thanks to Anne for bringing us the full story ...


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## Anne345

Les francophones peuvent utilement lire "les actes du colloque international organisé à Lyon, du 24 au 27 avril 2002, sous le titre 'Bilinguisme et terminologie grammaticale gréco-latine." disponible ici http://books.google.fr/books?id=PPuAOpOCWG0C


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## Arabus

I am not going to read it (because it looks so big) but I am getting a bad feeling about what they decided ... It looks like they decided that Greek endings shouldn't be Latinized, right? ... This must be good for them because they know both the Latin and Greek endings by heart ... but what about people striving not to forget the two or three Latin declensions they know, like myself? too bad for those ...

It looks like there were too many Greeks in that conference


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## CapnPrep

Arabus said:


> I am not going to read it (because it looks so big) but I am getting a bad feeling about what they decided ... It looks like they decided that Greek endings shouldn't be Latinized, right? ...


I think you have the wrong idea about what happens at these academic conferences. They almost never "decide" anything…

Anyway it is very generous of Anne345 to invite us to read this entire book (minus the crucial pages that Google does not show us), but perhaps she can also give us a hint about how this will be relevant to your specific question.


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