# To put the tea in the right place



## Shounak

Hello,

I want to write:

"To put the tea in the right place" and "to put the tea in the wrong place."

Can anyone please help me?


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## Starless74

The only problem is, tea wasn't known in the west until the XVI century, so a _bona fide_ Latin word for _tea_ doesn't exist.
But you may use _infusus_, _-i_ = infusion (more generic).
I'd suggest:
_Infusum in rectum locum ponere.
Infusum in pravum locum ponere._


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## bearded

Starless74 said:


> in rectum locum ponere


Starless, My doubt is probably unjustified, but... I found several examples of ''ponere in +ablative''.  Are you quite sure that accusative is the right case here?


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## jazyk

Most examples in this dictionary are in the ablative, but it also says the accusative is poetical.


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## Scholiast

Saluete omnes!

To me (as an enthusiastic tea-drinker) this question has been a vexation. The Linnaean designation for 'tea' is _Camellia_ (I know not why). But this would suggest, following Starless' intelligent idea (# 2) of _infusio_ or something of the kind, _Camellia infusa_.

As to 'in the right place': my feeling is that _proprio loco_ is nearer to the feel than _recto loco_. (And _pravo loco_ feels altogether wrong—that's an 'immoral' place).

Finally _ponere + _ablative/locative seems fine to me, without a preposition.

Σ


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## jazyk

All the examples in the dictionary I linked to have a preposition.


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## Scholiast

Thanks jazyk. I need to return to this...

Σ


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## exgerman

Scholiast said:


> Thanks jazyk. I need to return to this...


Shouldn't _in_ have its normal usage: with the accusative for motion toward, with the ablative for location in?

So_ ponere in locum,_ but _sedere in loco_.


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## jazyk

jazyk said:


> Most examples in this dictionary are in the ablative, but it also says the accusative is poetical.


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## bearded

exgerman said:


> Shouldn't _in_ have its normal usage: with the accusative for motion toward, with the ablative for location in?


A rule really not mandatory:
_castra in circo Flaminio posuit
tabulas testamenti in aerario pono _
(Examples - from lat. authors - in the Latin-Italian Dictionary)


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## Shounak

Thank you every one. So, to summarise can I put it as:
*
proprio loco   *_right place_
*pravo loco     *_wrong place_

?
Keeping aside the tea part?


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## bearded

Shounak, just out of curiosity:
When you wrote ''to put_ the tea_ in the right/wrong place'' did you mean the tea leaves, the cup containing the tea drink, the teapot..?


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## fdb

Scholiast said:


> To me (as an enthusiastic tea-drinker) this question has been a vexation. The Linnaean designation for 'tea' is _Camellia_ (I know not why).



"The generic name _Camellia_ is taken from the Latinized name of Rev. Georg Kamel, SJ (1661–1706), a Moravian-born Jesuit lay brother, pharmacist, and missionary to the Philippines. Carl Linnaeus chose his name in 1753 for the genus to honor Kamel's contributions to botany."

quoth Wikipedia.


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## Scholiast

fdb, _gratias maximas_ for this illumination (# 13). Fascinating. The Jesuits' contributions to science as well as to missionary endeavour have been impressive.

I remain unhappy about 'the wrong place'. _loco non apto_ maybe?

But I think we still need more guidance from Shounak about what the question means.

Σ


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## Shounak

It means the tea cup not the leaves.


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## Quiviscumque

From Silva | Neo-Latin Lexicon :
.drnk tea / potio Sinica [Eichenseer]; thea* [s.17]; thee *indecl*. [s.17] | black tea thea* Sinensis [Scheller, Lexicon, 1783]; thea* nigra [Scheller, Lexicon, 1783] | cochlear theanum* [s.18]; cochlear thearium* [Haas, Handwörterbuch, 1808]; ligula theana* | teacup pocillum theanum* [Eichenseer] (Helf.)

.drnk *tea* / theana potio (LRL); thea (Alb. I)

.drnk *tea *thea (Lev.)


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## Starless74

Shounak said:


> It means the tea cup not the leaves.


If it's about the cup, I'd focus on the cup:
_Poculum recte _/ _non recte collocare_. (literally: "to place the cup the right/wrong way")


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